In 1975, in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, there are the haves and the have-nots. Patch and Saint are two adolescents who are definitely in the have-nots. Patch was born with one eye, and is being raised by a single mother, though often it seems like he is raising her. Saint’s sole parent is her grandmother, a woman the other kids make fun of because she has short hair and is a bus driver. Patch has his stories about pirates to keep him company, and Saint has her bees.

When the two of them meet, it is clear they have found their person. But their love means different things to each of them, and over the course of their lifetimes, one will gain strength from it, the other heartbreak.

When Patch saves the daughter of a wealthy family from being kidnapped, an unlikely hero emerges. And in that one moment, the lives of everyone around him will be altered, never to be the same again.

Chris Whitaker has written a novel that has been hailed as a masterpiece—and rightfully so. All the Colors of the Dark shows the cost of keeping things hidden, how love can grow stronger over the years, about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.

Chris Whitaker is the award-winning author of Tall Oaks, All the Wicked Girls, and the New York Times bestseller We Begin at the End. Chris lives in the UK.