Hello, My Name is Henry is a heartfelt exploration of small-town life in the Rust Belt. It’s about how hard it is leave home, even when you know home is a dead-end.

The main character Henry works the graveyard shift in a convenience store, dealing with drunks and drug addicts while dreaming of a way out. When a chance accident brings Henry’s past into focus, the question of whether he can build a future beyond Brooksville’s dilapidated downtown becomes more urgent than ever.

This is the first novel by Micah Schnabel, who is both a founding member of the band Two Cow Garage and a prolific solo artist. The book’s prose reflects the same incisive emotional observations and keen attention to detail long seen in his lyrics.

A heart-wrecking novel about those who remain in a dying midwestern town. A story of the forgotten and passed-by. Henry, the graveyard-shift cashier at a mini-mart, will stay with the reader for months after the last page is finished.

• Willy Vlautin, author of the novels The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free, and Don’t Skip Out On Me.

A perceptive depiction of reality addressing the dissolution of the American Dream mythos. The disarming familiarity of the writing humanizes the political/economic causes that fuel the narrative.

• Julien Baker, musician (Sprained Ankle, Turn Out The Lights)