First published 2022
Circus Palmer stands at forty with his trumpet and his reputation as a Boston musician who never settles down. In 2013, just before a Miami performance, Maggie tells him she carries his child. Maggie means more to him than any other woman, but Circus runs instead of staying to talk. His escape triggers responses from every woman whose life he has touched. His teenage daughter Koko worships her father while discovering her own desires. Her mother battles mental illness and the wounds from her failed marriage to Circus. Other women emerge with their own stories of loving and losing him. Each voice reveals how one man's refusal to commit creates ripples of pain and longing. The women speak their truths about passion, abandonment, and survival. Through their perspectives, a portrait emerges of damaged relationships and the possibility of healing.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Boston, Miami
Period: 2013
336 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon
Content warnings: mental-illness