First published 2016
Mimi Miller spends her childhood eavesdropping on her parents and watching the neighbors in Miller's Valley, where her family has lived for generations. She listens at doorways and observes from corners, piecing together the adult world around her. What she discovers troubles her. Family secrets poison relationships. Gossip spreads like wildfire through the community. Marriages crack under pressure. Friendships prove unequal. Love and loyalty carry unexpected dangers. As Mimi grows older, she realizes that home can make you feel lost just as easily as it can make you feel safe. The valley that shaped her begins to disappear, taking people with it. Mimi must figure out who she really is and what home means when the place that made you might vanish forever. She learns that even when you leave your hometown behind, it never really leaves you.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Miller's Valley
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
257 pages · Hardcover · Random House