Of Love and Loss, and Youth

In Lucas Mann’s Lord Fear: A Memoir, the author tries to reconstruct a portrait of his brother who died from a heroin overdose, and comes to redefine his own place in a family whose narrative is bisected by the tragic loss. In Ed Tarkington’s debut novel, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, an affair between a teenager and the daughter of a wealthy neighbor sets in motion a course of events that causes catastrophe for both their families.