Casualties

Come come back whole. Some come back broken. Some just never come back . . .

As an executive for one of the most successful military defense contractors in the country, Ruth Nolan should have been thrilled when her troubled son, Robbie, chose to join the marines. But she wasn't. She was terrified.

So, when he returns home to San Diego after his second tour in Iraq, apparently unscathed, it feels like a chance to start over and make things right - until a scandal at work tears her away from their reunion. By the next morning, Robbie is gone. A note arrives for Ruth in the mail a few days later saying, 'I'm sorry for everything. It's not your fault. I love you.'

Without a backward glance, Ruth packs up Robbie's ashes and drives east, heading away from her guilt and regret. But the closer she gets to the coast she was born on, the more evident it becomes that she won't outrun her demons - eventually, she'll have to face them and confront the painful truth about her past, her choices, the war, and her son.

'How do you survive the unendurable? Marro's gorgeous debut is about war, grief, guilt, and grappling with the truths you don't expect, and finally taking the risk and acknowledging the ones that you do. Moving and full of heart.' Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

'With its gripping plot and seasoned prose, it is hard to imagine that Casualties is Elizabeth Marro's debut novel. She writes of a mother's worst nightmare, and offers no easy answers. By the end of her novel we care for her characters, and hope that each can find the elusive redemption they so desire.' Alan Russell, bestselling author of Burning Man

'Conflicting human needs, difficult choices, missed opportunities, and the random luck of the draw challenge the true-to-life, complicated characters in Elizabeth Marro's page-turning novel. This is an important story set against the drama of today's volatile world that asks moral questions yet, ultimately, resides in the heart.' Judy Reeves, author of Wild Women, Wild Voices

'There's an emotional jolt early in the pages of Elizabeth Marro's debut novel Casualties that reminds us not all battle scars start on the battlefield. The bell-like tolls of this tragic event will reverberate throughout the rest of this heartbreaking novel as Ruth and Casey, two strangers broken by grief and regret, reluctantly join together on a cross-country road trip. Elizabeth Marro made me care about these two people so much that by the end of the novel I'd forgotten they were fictional characters and I was ready to call them up to see how they were doing and if they'd finally found their way toward peace and forgiveness.' David Abrams, author of Fobbit

'A gritty tragedy that unrelentingly addresses painful issues of war, suicide, and the shady dealings of defense contractors . . . It isn't a happily-ever-after story, but Marro casts a ray of hope that a good life can be lived after terrible tragedy.' Kirkus Reviews