by Jodi Picoult
First published 2026
Molly Fitzgerald lost her mother in the World Trade Center attacks when she was two months old. Now she runs Rhode Island's Department for Emergency Preparedness, creating protocols for hurricanes, disease outbreaks, and plane crashes. Her father and stepmother gave her all the love they could, but she carries a deep fear of catastrophe. She finds comfort in her marriage to Jesse, a police polygraph expert who understands trauma. Their relationship becomes her refuge from a world full of threats. Then an unexpected crisis strikes their new marriage. Both Molly and Jesse must face truths they have avoided. The story moves between different time periods, revealing how Molly's early loss shaped her need to control danger. As her personal emergency unfolds, she discovers that no amount of planning can protect against every disaster. The novel explores how people create stories to make sense of loss, how they build defenses against pain, and how mothers and daughters remain connected across time and tragedy.
Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, psychological-thriller, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Rhode Island, World Trade Center
Period: 21st-century
464 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: mental-illness