From award-winning writer Scott Semegran, his latest novel The Codger and the Sparrow (TCU Press) is a comical yet moving story about a widower’s unlikely friendship with a young troublemaker.

Hank O’Sullivan can’t catch a break. The 65-year-old widower lives a routine life, nursing his loneliness with cocktails at his favorite local bar in Austin, Texas. A brawl with an acerbic barfly lands him in jail. The judge pities the old codger and sentences him to do community service, picking up trash beside the interstate highway.

Luis Delgado lives with his stern, single father in a small apartment. The 16-year-old troublemaker has remarkable artistic abilities, but his penchant for sneaking out and trespassing onto rooftops late at night also lands him in community service.

These loners form an unlikely friendship in an inhospitable setting. When Hank tells Luis about his desire to drive to Houston, Texas to reconnect with an old flame, Luis asks to tag along. Luis’ estranged mother also lives in Houston and he has been saving money for a trip, dreaming of reconnecting with her. Hank agrees, setting in motion a raucous road trip in a hot pink 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. Neither Hank nor Luis find what they are looking for, but something altogether different and unexpected happens.

With humor and a bit of grace, The Codger and the Sparrow is a rambunctious story about an unusual friendship stretching across the generations.