New York, NY: St. Martin's Press (May 2, 2023)

Hardback.

New in dust jacket.

NYT Bestselling author of The Scent Keeper returns with "a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.

Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.

ERICA BAUERMEISTER is the author of the bestselling novels The Scent Keeper, The School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners, and The Lost Art of Mixing. She has a PhD in literature from the University of Washington, and has taught there and at Antioch University. She is a founding member of the Seattle7Writers and currently lives in Port Townsend, Washington.