From the bard of the Beat Generation comes a profoundly moving, autobiographical novel of childhood and first love. “A surprisingly simple and appealing tale of a young student’s fumbling search for love among the high school set . . . at his best, [Kerouac] can give you poetic visions of the commonplace.”—The New York Times Book Review“She’d cradle my broken head in her all-healing lap that beat like a heart; my eyes hot would feel the soothe fingertips of cool, the joy, the stroke and barely-touch, the feminine sweet loss bemused inward-biting far-thinking deep earth river-mad April caress . . .” This touching novel of adolescent love and loss in a 1930s New England mill town is one of Kerouac’s most poignant works. It tells the story of teenager Jack Duluoz, exploring his secret passions, his sporting prowess, and his first romance, with a beautiful Irish girl named Maggie Cassidy. Originally written in 1953, Maggie Cassidy is a remarkable, bittersweet evocation of the awkwardness and joy of growing up in America.