Ed and Taylor, both aspiring young writers, fall in love during a summer of aimless drinking and partying in their university town of Missoula, Montana. Lonely and looking for love, they connect despite their profound differences: 

Ed is brooding, ambitious and self-destructive, living in denial of a mysterious tumour spreading from his limbs to his brain. 

Beautiful Taylor is a pure soul, positive, full of hope and emotional generosity. 

Their difficult relationship is intense, exciting yet doomed from the start, complicated further when Taylor falls pregnant. 

As Ed resists the harmony she brings to his life, Taylor’s need to protect herself and their child also grows, until a dramatic finale. 

Ted McDermott’s stark writing speaks truthfully and with a touch of dark humour for and to today’s generation of young people trying to find hope in what feels to many like an existential void. The Minor Outsider will be read as the young literary voice of our dark times.

McDermott writes about academia and small-town America with an enjoyable mix of cynicism and affection… a hip, touching and thoroughly readable story that presents young adulthood as a frustrating, alien place Guardian McDermott is sharp on the indulgences of the creative set and, above all, portraying the life of many young men – drifting, hard to reach, doomed to try to make sense of a world that resists all explanation and interpretation Financial Times There is a Russian-roulette effect to the storytelling that will keep readers turning the page… impressive, focusing on life’s contradictions and absurdities Irish Times Vivid, fast-paced prose… a fresh, spirited debut set against a stunning backdrop Big Issue in the North Quite brilliant. An honest unflinching account of a man and his frailties Irish Examiner Marks the emergence of a formidable talent… [Ted McDermott] demonstrates a vision that leaves the reader eager for more The Lady Wry, sharp-eyed, fresh as mountain air — Jonathan Trigell, author of Boy A and Genus A major debut. McDermott’s witty and stirring love story tracks so many of the wonderful ways we doom our happiness. It’s thrillingly sad! And quite funny Sam Lipsyte A round of applause for Ted McDermott, please. He’s earned it. The Minor Outsider is a spirited, audacious, and drolly funny debut novel — Patrick deWitt The Minor Outsider may be a first novel, but there’s a lifetime of observation behind it… as humane a new book as I’ve read in a long, long time — Peter Orner, author of ‘Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge’ A surprising, smart, and memorable novel Publishers Weekly

Ted McDermott was born in Delaware in 1982. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2004 and received his MFA from the University of Montana in 2011. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in VICE, the Believer, the Portland Review, the Minus Times, and elsewhere. In 2009, he was nominated for The Essay Prize. He has been a baker, a mover and an encyclopaedist. He currently lives in Montana. The Minor Outsider is his first novel.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pushkin (27 April 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0992918278
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9780992918279
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.72 x 1.52 x 21.84 cm