ACTOR Format: Hardcover

Beth McHugh’s brilliant debut novel takes place in the late 1960s in a Montana university town, and it revolves around thirteen-year-old Grace, her younger sister Franny, their beautiful mother, their beloved father—and a secret that must be confronted. Perceptive and elegantly understated, The Actor examines the divide between secrecy and truth and what it means to grow up on such a precipice.

McHugh received a MFA from the University of Montana and teaches high school English in Montana. The Actor was the runaway winner for the inaugural Meadowlark Award.

McHugh was raised in Helena, Montana, and is a graduate of the University of Montana where she earned a B.A. in English (2006), an M.F.A in Creative Writing (2009), and an M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction (2015). She taught writing at Bitterroot College and currently teaches English at Hamilton High School. Her work has appeared in literary magazines, including Orange Quarterly and Writing Tomorrow. The Actor is her first book.