Grafting by Rylan Hynes

When Eben Turner returns to his family's apple orchard in rural Maine after his parents' death, he faces more than just the weight of inheritance—he confronts the love he left behind. A decade has passed since he and Chris Hartley, the Methodist minister's son, were torn apart in their final year of high school, their secret relationship severed by the forces of faith and small-town judgment. Now, as adults navigating the crossroads of identity and belonging, they must reckon with both their buried past and an uncertain future.

Set against the Edenic beauty of New England, Grafting unfolds through dual perspectives in a lyrical narrative that mirrors the delicate art of joining two trees to create something stronger. As Eben and Chris work to understand how they came to be parted, they discover that healing requires more than forgiveness—it demands the courage to cultivate love in hostile ground.

This exquisite debut explores the cost of forbidden desire and the resilience required to claim one's authentic self. With prose as rooted and enduring as the heritage apple trees that anchor the story, Grafting asks whether two people can truly come home to each other after being forced apart by the very communities that shaped them.

A voice-driven and unforgettable tale of queer love and rural identity, Grafting will resonate with readers who were moved by the sweeping emotion of Brokeback Mountain, the luminous prose of Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and stories that find the sacred in the profane, the universal in the deeply personal.