Bella Vista

By Adam Strong, By Adam Strong

12+

FICTION

319 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: EPUB, Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $21.99 (US $21.99) (CA $29.99)

Publication Date: March 2026

ISBN 9781963869729

Rights: WOR

Running Wild Press (Mar 2026)

eBook Editions Available

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Price:	$21.99

Overview

Bella Vista, in the end, is about fatherhood. About fathers and sons. It’ s about one father, Frank Pershall, how he went from a dope smoking car aficionado to a businessman. About how this businessman hatched a scheme to pry his son, Jay away from his Mom, who was developing a habit of drugs and staying out late, and generally being out of it most of the time, and how that father convinced his son to move down to Florida with him. But as soon as they get there, all that high and mighty “ I’ ll be a better father to you” breaks down because the first day they arrive at this house at this vision his father has for life known as Bella Vista, only then does he choose to turn the care of his son over to his Limo Driver, Cliff. Yes, all of a sudden Dad has all of this money that he tells his son comes from venture capitalists and this new business he is starting. Cliff drives people around for a living, and it is in this Limo Jay learns to carve out a life for himself away from his father, and to finally live life on his own terms.

Reviews

“In Bella Vista, you can’t help but fall in love with Jay, a boy with a very particular voice and a big broken heart, who’s trying to find himself—or maybe trying not to lose himself—in the middle of a very dysfunctional family. A boy whose artist mother can’t really see him and whose hippie-turned-get-rich-quick-schemer father only sees the worst in him. When on Jay’s tenth birthday, his father whisks him off to Miami with the promise of a better life and a better father-son relationship, the adventure that finds him is nothing a reader could have expected. Written in language slips and flows, like water rushing around rocks in a river, Bella Vista is a unique and beautiful coming of age story.” —Gigi Little, author of Who Killed One the Gun?

“The high anxiety voice of this 80s coming-of-age story reveals the usual dramas of adolescence redefined by Jay Pershall’s audacious love for his insanely broken parents. At times absurdist, at times cruel, Bella Vista is a compulsively readable and ultimately wise story of consequence, survival, and, after all, love.” —Joanna Rose, author of A Small Crowd of Strangers

“A gripping story, crafted by the phenomenal storyteller, Adam Strong. Bella Vista is a gorgeous, tender, coming-of-age tale, told from the inside out, through the lens of a boy with an artist’s sensibility, trapped with an angry, hollow father. From the opening pages, we’re peering around the danger corners and cheering for Jay to find his way through, to claim his voice in a world that wishes him silent. A heart-thumping gem of a novel.” —Anne Gudger, author of The Fifth Chamber

“Adam Strong has crafted an intimate and deeply moving story of resilience, self-discovery, and the ultimate act of survival: finding the strength and grace to forgive.” —Kathleen Lane, author of Pity Party and The Best Worst Thing.

“In Bella Vista, Strong delivers a raw, unflinching coming-of-age story about love, loss, and survival. As Jay, the protagonist, flees his broken home, guided only by a weary limo driver who never stopped caring, he must confront the darkness within and decide who he’s meant to become.” —Jenny Forrester, author of Narrow River, Wide Sky.

Author Biography

Adam Strong is a high school Digital Arts Teacher and editor of the literary curiosity shop Backwards Trajectory. He is also the founder and presenter of the reading series SongbookPDX. He lives, loves, and writes in Portland, OR with his wife and children. Bella Vista is his first novel.

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