Matthew Toffin

Smashing China Matthew Toffin

Ash Hollow has always had a big mouth, poor impulse control, and a knack for finding trouble. Now, as he treks through the jungles outside Chiang Mai, Thailand in an effort to outrun his destructive nature, Ash realizes that real life has no appeal. With nothing back home but two brothers in college, Ash is not ready to return to America anytime soon.

Ash's brother, Tom, has always followed his brothers' leads and never learned to look within for the answers. As he attempts to navigate life on his own for the first time, Tom immerses himself in a new social circle at Boston College while acknowledging that life is easier without Ash around. Meanwhile, their judgmental cousin, Alice, is frustrated that success has not brought the satisfaction she expected in life. But everything changes when Tom is injured in an accident and must call on Ash and Alice for help. As the family comes together, can they learn to embrace their differences and accept that their deepest weaknesses might also be their greatest strengths?

In a series of compelling, interconnected vignettes, three family members attempting to change courses in life learn the ways of the world and how they fit within its bounds-or whether they fit at all.