Skip to content

Shopping Local, Made Easy

Early Sobrieties: A Novel

Early Sobrieties: A Novel

Regular price $17.00
Sale price $17.00 Regular price
WINNER of the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel

Longlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

'Just give me one more day, ' Monk says, and Early Sobrieties is such a wise and piercing book that we believe him.
--Charlie Lee, The New York Times Book Review

Michael Deagler is the real deal.
--Percival Everett, 2023 Windham Campbell Prize recipient and author of Dr. No

Don't worry about what Dennis Monk did when he was drinking. He's sober now, ready to rejoin the world of leases and paychecks, reciprocal friendships and healthy romances--if only the world would agree to take him back. When his working-stiff parents kick him out of their suburban home, mere months into his frangible sobriety, the 26-year-old spends his first dry summer couch surfing through South Philadelphia, struggling to find a place for himself in the throng of adulthood.

Monk's haphazard pilgrimage leads him through a city in flux: growing, gentrifying, haunted by its history and its unrealized potential. Everyone he knew from college seems to be doing better than him--and most of them aren't even doing that well. His run-ins with former classmates, estranged drinking buddies, and prospective lovers challenge his version of events past and present, revealing that recovery is not the happy ending he'd expected, only a fraught next chapter.

Like a sober, millennial Jesus' Son, Michael Deagler's debut novel is the poignant confession of a recovering addict adrift in the fragmenting landscape of America's middle class. Shot through with humor, hubris, and hard-earned insight, Early Sobrieties charts the limbos that exist between our better and worst selves, offering a portrait of a stifled generation collectively slouching towards grace.
  • Most items deliver free to anywhere in Vermont!
  • Keeping money local: Every purchase on Myti supports Vermont brands, retailers, and communities—keeping your dollars where they matter most.
  • We have paused shipping to states outside of Vermont, but hope to resume soon. Please sign up for our email list for updates!

What Makes us Myti?

Powered by Vermont

Every product you buy supports real Vermont businesses—keeping dollars, jobs, and creativity right here at home.

Fast and easy delivery

The joy of shopping Local,
delivered to your door!

We'll Make it Right

If something's not right, we'll make it right. Our local support team is here to help-with real answers, not auto replies.