A Native's Tongue

"As I walked out under the Los Angeles sky, the possibility of becoming something more than a short order cook, living in the valley, and resenting my dysfunctional family occurred to me..."

A young man, torn between two women, struggles to find his way in the world in Michael D. Dennis's touching new novel, "A Native's Tongue."

Charlie Winters is used to just getting by while living with his single mother and working a dead-end job. Meanwhile, he's constantly grappling with the voice of his sister, who died in a tragic car accident years earlier, echoing in his head.

Soon Charlie finds himself immersed in a destructive relationship with an older woman who still fails to fill the void within him.

But then he meets Jennifer, whose energy and life convinces Charlie to pursue her-even through the darkest corners of Los Angeles.

Escaping to the California coast, Charlie and Jennifer finally find what they've always needed. But a sudden illness quickly pulls them both back to LA.

It is there, amid the sex, drugs, and split-second decisions that pulse through the city, that tragedy strikes-threatening to tear Charlie and Jennifer apart forever.