Long Way Gone

Cooper O’Connor grows up in the Colorado mountains, playing music for his revival-preacher father and dreaming of the Nashville stage. At eighteen he runs to Tennessee with his guitar and his father’s hopes in the rearview mirror. Nashville gives him a taste of what he wanted and more than a little heartbreak. Years later, after loss, injury, and silence where his music used to be, Cooper finds himself back home, wondering if grace can reach him there. Long Way Gone is told in first person from Cooper’s point of view and moves between tent revivals, city streets, and the Ryman Auditorium. At its heart are his complicated bond with his father and his tender, unfinished love for singer Daley Cross. Themes of forgiveness, second chances, and faith shape a clean, emotionally rich romance that’s honest about pain yet gentle in content.