These compelling stories offer a detailed look at a part of the country many Americans only glimpse through an airplane window from 30,000 feet-the small towns of the rural Midwest. The characters here-struggling to raise children and build a better future, or just to escape their past; searching for connection on social media and longing for the glory days of youth, even as they put on pounds and lose hair; good citizens, and criminals-populate a landscape of emotional peaks and valleys far more varied and interesting than the flat physical terrain they inhabit. They are the people we've left behind when we moved to the city, or the people we've become. They are us

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