The From-Aways (41 page)

Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road”

The SteelDrivers, “Where Rainbows Never Die”

Talking Heads, “Heaven”

Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”

Maria Taylor, “Clean Getaway”

Townes Van Zandt, “Poncho and Lefty”

Loudon Wainwright III, “Motel Blues”

Tom Waits, “Hold On”

Tom Waits, “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”

Gillian Welch, “Look at Miss Ohio”

Neil Young, “Unknown Legend”

Quinn’s Songbook

“No Medicine”

Capo III

G
 
C
 
G
 
G
 
C
 
G

You thought I was a train, come barrelin’ down the tracks

Em
 
G
 
C
 
D
 
G

I thought your heart was a white, white bird, But when it flew off it was black

G
 
C
 
G
 
G
 
C
 
G

You thought I was a fighter, You thought I was a saint

Em
 
G
 
C
 
D
 
G

Your face it looked like broken glass when you realized I ain’t

Chorus:

G

And honey

 
Em
 
Bm
 
C
 
G

There’s nothin’ to be done for that, No medicine I can give

Em
 
Bm
 
C

Can’t patch up what’s broke too bad, some ills you have to live with

 
Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

And
 
I’ve
 
been
 
living

Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

I’ve
 
been
 
living

Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

I’ve
 
been
 
living

F

With broken pieces

 
Am

Of my own

 
C
 
G

And no medicine at all

G
 
C
 
G
 
G
 
C
 
G

You thought I was a horse, come breakaway from behind

Em
 
G
 
C
 
D
 
G

I thought you’d of left this town by now, and shown how bright you shine

G
 
C
 
G
 
G
 
C
 
G

You thought I was a doctor, could fix us up with glue

 
Em
 
G
 
C
 
D
 
G

But I wouldn’t touch a single of the cracks that show what’s broke in you

Chorus:

G

And honey

 
Em
 
Bm
 
C
 
G

There’s nothin’ to be done for that, No medicine I can give

Em
 
Bm
 
C

Can’t patch up what’s broke too bad, some ills you have to live with

 
Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

And
 
I’ve
 
been
 
living

Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

I’ve
 
been
 
living

Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

I’ve
 
been
 
living

F

With broken pieces

 
Am

Of my own

 
C
 
G
 
C
 
G

And no medicine, at all

G
 
C
 
G

F
 
Am

Be my medicine

 
Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

And
 
we
 
will
 
weather

Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

 
we
 
will
 
weather

Cadd9
 
G
 
Cadd9

 
we
 
will
 
weather

Am
 
C

it
 
all

G
 
C

G
 
C

“What Bird”

Capo III

Intro:

G6
 
Cmaj7
 
G6
 
Cmaj7
 
G6
 
Cmaj7
 
Cmaj7
 
Cmaj7

 
G6
 
Cmaj7

What bird is at the window? A sparrow or a lark?

G6
 
C
 
D
 
G

Not an owl for sure, no. It’s hours past the dark

G6
 
Cmaj7

What we get into last night? How’d you get here with me?

G6
 
C
 
D
 
G

We said we wouldn’t do this. I made you promise me.

G

Chorus:

 
C
 
D
 
Em

But I don’t care

C
 
D
 
Am
 
F

’Cause I’ve looked everywhere for you

F
 
C

Or someone like you

G6
 
Cmaj7

So I could go get coffee, While you read the news

G6
 
C
 
D
 
G

I’d come back and you’d tell me all about it, just like we used to do.

G6
 
Cmaj7

But what’s the point in pretending it won’t turn out just the same

G6
 
C
 
D
 
G

You and me drunk and screaming in the alley, me trying to forget your name

G

Chorus:

 
C
 
D
 
Em

But I don’t care

C
 
D
 
Am
 
F

’Cause I’ve looked everywhere for you

F
 
C

Or someone like you

Bridge:

Em
 
C
 
G

So next time I see

Am
 
Em

You standing cross the room there lookin’ sweet

B7
 
Em
 
A7
 
D

Maybe you won’t see me, we’ll be happier, we’ll be free

G6
 
Cmaj7
 
G6
 
Cmaj7

 
G6
 
Cmaj7

What bird is at the window? A sparrow or a lark?

G6
 
C
 
D
 
G

Not an owl for sure, no. It’s hours past the dark

“Saint Rosalind”

Capo V

A7sus4
 
G
 
A7sus4
 
G

If you hop a tall fence, electric in your mind

 
A7sus4
 
G
 
C
 
Am

You’ll see Saint Rosie of the high watts, Saint Rosalind

A7sus4
 
G
 
A7sus4
 
G

If you find a tin box, buried, lost to time

 
A7sus4
 
G
 
C
 
Am

Might be Our Lady of Penobscot’s, Saint Rosalind’s

 
F

(But) I’ve been trying to find her

C

Jukebox songs, reminders

G

Rosie, Rosie, why’d you

A7

Have to go, and leave us here, on our own

 
F

’Cause this town ain’t the same

 
C

You sent us up in flames

 
G
 
A7

Oh, Rosie, Rosie, tell me you’re comin’ home?

 
C
 
C
 
C

’Cause if you don’t

 
G

I don’t know

G
 
G
 
G

(Repeat two times)

Praise

“This big-hearted story about small-town Maine captivated me from the first page. Filled with humor and poetry and complicated characters who love foolishly and too much,
The From-Aways
is about putting down roots and gazing up at the stars in a place where the rhythms of life are as constant and yet unpredictable as the surf on the shore.”

—Christina Baker Kline
, New York Times
bestselling author of
Orphan Train

“In
The From-Aways,
CJ Hauser introduces us to Menamon, Maine, a town of wisecracking fishermen, activist waitresses, and secret fathers, with such deftness we immediately know and care for it like locals. At its heart,
The From-Aways
is the story of a hesitant friendship between Quinn, a Bernstein looking for her Woodward, and Leah, a newcomer to Menamon and her marriage to one of its prodigal sons. These compelling, unlikely women rub the sorry states of their lives together to ignite a breathless chain of events that whips clean through to an explosive conclusion that resonated with me for days. I loved spending time in Menamon, and was sorry when I had to go.”

—Marie-Helene Bertino, author of
Safe as Houses
and
2
A
.
M
. at the Cat’s Pajamas

“
The From-Aways
is populated by twentysomethings running from and in search of family, by people passionately in pursuit of home. CJ Hauser has written a wise, lovely, luminous novel about love and work and leaving New York. It will make you want to get out your lobster pot and set forth for the coast of Maine.”

—Joshua Henkin, author of
The World Without You

“I first read CJ Hauser’s work a few years ago and was immediately pulled in by the wit of her prose, her sharp dialogue, and her honesty in portraying the journey of young women trying to find their place in the world. With her enchanting debut novel,
The From-Aways
, CJ Hauser delivers on her promise of being a writer to root for, a writer to watch, a writer to read.”

—Vendela Vida, author of
The Lovers
and
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name

“CJ Hauser’s debut novel,
The From-Aways
, is as charming, salty, and fresh as its setting in small-town Maine. Through her spunky heroines, Leah and Quinn, who have both come to Maine to find roots, Hauser tells an affecting story about lobsters, loyalty, and love.”

—Elliott Holt, author of
You Are One of Them

Credits

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Cover photograph © by plainpicture/Lubitz + Dorner

Author photograph by Shannon Taggart

Copyright

“Paradise City.” Written by W. Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Saul Hudson, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler. © 1986 Guns N’ Roses Music (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. International Copyright Secured.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.