Till the Wheels Fall Off

From roller rinks and record players to coin-operated condom dispensers and small-town mobsters, Till the Wheels Fall Off is the story of Matthew Carnap's unconventional childhood among the pleasures and privations of the pre-digital era.

Growing up in the 1980s, Matthew Carnap was awake all night, afflicted by a potent combination of insomnia and undiagnosed ADHD and OCD. Sometimes he gazed out his bedroom window into the dark; sometimes he wandered the streets of his rural, southern Minnesota town. But for a few magical years, he could cross the hall into his stepfather Russ's roller rink and spend his sleepless hours lost in music. Russ's record collection was as eclectic as it was extensive, and he and Matthew bonded over discovering new tunes and spinning perfect skate mixes. Then Matthew's mother divorced Russ; they moved; the roller rink closed; the 21st century arrived. Years later, an isolated, restless Matthew moves back to his hometown. From an unusual apartment in the pressbox of the high school football stadium, he searches his memories, looking something that might reconnect him with Russ.

With languid humor and insightful empathy, Brad Zellar (House of Coates) returns with a discursive novel about rural Midwestern life, neurodiversity, nostalgia, masculinity, and the power of human connection--with a built-in soundtrack.