Unsolicited Press Announces the Release of Ryan Rickrode’s Devastating and Tender Debut Novel, The Mountains May Depart

Unsolicited Press is proud to announce the forthcoming release of The Mountains May Depart, a haunting and exquisitely rendered debut novel by Ryan Rickrode, arriving April 7, 2026.

Set in Missoula, Montana, The Mountains May Depart follows Dan and Sarah six months after the car accident that claimed their four-year-old son. Each believes they are holding their marriage together,and each fears they are destroying it. Dan pounds through the streets on his daily runs, trying and failing to outrun grief, guilt, and the temptation of a growing attraction to a younger colleague. Sarah turns to prayer, straining to hear a God who refuses to answer as she contemplates whether leaving might be the only loving action left.

With prose as stark as alpine winter and as fragile as thaw, Rickrode examines what remains after tragedy fractures a family: faith, longing, silence, and the small mercies we offer each other in the dark. The novel was a 2019 Finalist for the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize and a 2020 Honorable Mention for the Landmark Prize for Fiction; an excerpt appeared in The Windhover in 2021.

The Mountains May Depart marks the arrival of a powerful new voice wrestling with the complexities of love, loss, and forgiveness.