
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss
A Novel
Amazon Publishing · Print & ebook · April 8, 2025
Longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize.
- Themes
- Self-discovery, Family secrets, Chaos from good intentions
- Genres
- Funny Fiction, Coming-of-Age, Family Life
- Published
- Amazon Publishing, April 8, 2025
Who it’s for
- For readers who enjoy funny novels about murder charges and legal trouble
- For readers drawn to family secrets and personal revelations
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Join the waitlistAbout this book
Longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize. Nominated for the 2026 Edgar Award—Best Paperback Original. Finalist for the 2026 Audie Award. In this poignant and funny novel, a man who is defined by his limitations sets out to fight a murder charge—and discovers unexpected truths about himself, his family, and the world at large. On the surface, Denny Voss’s life in rural Minnesota is a quiet one.
Continue reading
At thirty years old, he lives at home with his elderly mother and his beloved blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George. He cleans up roadkill to help pay the bills. Though his prospects are limited by a developmental delay—the result of an accident at birth—Denny has always felt that he has “a good life.” So how did he wind up being charged with the murder of a mayoral candidate—after crashing a sled full of guns into a tree? As Denny awaits trial, his court-appointed therapist walks him through the events of the past year. Denny’s had other scuffles with the law, the first for kidnapping a neighbor’s cantankerous goose. And then there was the time he accidentally assisted in a bank robbery. It seems like whenever Denny tries to do the right thing, chaos ensues. Untangling the events around the murder reveals even more painful truths about his family’s past. He’s always been surrounded by people who love him, but now it’s up to Denny to set his life on a new course.
Where it sits
| Coming-of-Age | 55% |
|---|---|
| Funny Fiction | 40% |
| Family Life | 32% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Coming-of-Age
- Women's Fiction
- Small-Town Fiction
- Authors
- Holly Kennedy
- Publisher
- Amazon Publishing
- Published
- April 8, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Self-discovery · Family secrets · Chaos from good intentions
- Reading lane
- Coming-of-Age