The Tie That Binds

US-only true first: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1984 — Haruf's debut novel and considerably scarcer than Plainsong. No 1980s British edition was traced; the UK issue is Picador (London, 2002, ISBN 0330490451), published nearly two decades later in the wake of Plainsong's success, and the Vintage Contemporaries US paperback (ISBN 0375724389) is likewise a "first thus." Both are reprints. Only the 1984 Holt, Rinehart and Winston hardcover is the first.