A quick note

It seems superfluous to say that something that is as big a project as a novel is special to you, but … this book is very, very special to me. It came to life during one of the hardest years I’ve ever had, and it started with the fact that I was spending a lot of my plentiful couch time watching Antiques Roadshow and other stories about beloved objects. People often want to know where the ideas for novels come from; there you go. It came, at least in part, from PBS. (With an assist from my pal Jesse Thorn, podcaster and my old-beautiful-things consultant.)

I didn’t originally plan to return to Calcasset, the Maine town where Evvie Drake Starts Over took place. This is not a sequel; it follows a different set of characters. (Though there are a couple of connections that Evvie readers will spot.) But the more I struggled during 2020 and 2021 to figure out what story my brain was most eager to tell, the more I wanted to return to a place I already knew — maybe because I was at home and couldn’t go to any of the beautiful places I love in real life, Maine included.

Flying Solo is a story about independence and love, and about family and memory and admiring beautiful things. I’m so excited to share it, and so glad I got the chance to write it. It will be out in June 2022, and we’ll talk more before then!

About the book!

Flying Solo, coming summer 2022

Laurie is about to be 40, and she recently broke off an engagement, so there’s a lot going on even before she heads back to her Maine hometown to take on the task of going through the possessions of her great-aunt Dot, who recently passed away at 93.

While she’s sorting pictures and blankets and clothes, she finds a carved wooden duck decoy at the bottom of a trunk. It feels important for reasons she can’t quite put her finger on, and she starts asking questions about it. The answers to those questions take her to a couple of charming antique shops, on a daring caper, on an after-hours date at a public library, and back to her relationships with her first love and her oldest friend.

Meanwhile, memories of her fiercely independent aunt help nudge Laurie to think about her canceled wedding, the kind of love she wants, and what her future might look like.

Pre-ordering!

If you’re looking forward to the book, I’d be absolutely delighted if you pre-ordered. As every author will tell you — and they tell you this because it’s true — pre-orders are a huge part of getting a book off the ground. If you pre-order, you can make sure that when the book lands, it will be yours right away. And I’ll be very, very grateful.

Here are some pre-order links!

Bookshop.org
Indiebound
Target
Barnes & Noble
Books A Million
Hudson
Amazon