First published 2023
Grace Adams sits trapped in London traffic on her daughter's sixteenth birthday. At forty-five, she feels invisible and forgotten. Her marriage has crumbled. Her teenage daughter barely speaks to her. Today something snaps. Grace abandons her car and starts walking across the city, carrying a £200 birthday cake. She has one goal: reach her estranged daughter and salvage their relationship. The journey forces Grace to confront what went wrong in her life. She remembers when her husband admired her, when her daughter looked up to her, when she believed in herself. Now perimenopause and middle age have left her feeling erased. But as Grace walks through London's streets, she begins to reclaim the woman she used to be. This birthday will either mark the final break with her daughter or become the day Grace proves that falling down doesn't mean staying down.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: second-chance, self-discovery
Setting: London
Period: 21st-century
272 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.