Leesa Cross-Smith

A powerful, vibrant novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers, from the award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller." On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home when she spots a man precariously standing on the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally, reluctantly, shares his first name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally-charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe and comfortable space for Emmett, although she doesn't confess that she works as a therapist. However, Emmett is not the only one who needs help—and he has secrets of his own. Alternating between Tallie and Emmett's perspectives as they inch closer to the truth of what brought Emmett to the bridge, This Close to Okay is an uplifting, powerful story of two strangers brought together by wild chance at the moment they need it the most.

A Novel

This Close to Okay

From the award-winning author of This Close to Okay comes the irresistible story of a woman remaking her life after her husband's betrayal leads to a year of travel, art, and passion in Paris. Vincent, having grown up the privileged daughter of artists, has a life that is lovely in many ways. At forty-four, she enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and she's even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal: her husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about his past and their marriage, including the fact that when he was a teenager, he may have had a child with a young woman back in Dublin--before his family moved to California and never returned. Now estranged, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again at their son's wedding the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. Soon they begin an intense affair, and somewhere between dinners made together, hazy evenings in nightclubs where Loup's band plays, and long, starry walks along the Seine, Vincent feels herself blossoming. Filled with playlists, travel journal entries, and excerpts from Cillian's novel, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships. As Cillian does all he can to win her back, Vincent must decide what she wants . . . and who she will be.

Half-Blown Rose

A lush, glittering short story collection exploring female obsession and desire by an award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller." From Kentucky to the California desert, these forty-two short stories expose the glossy and matte hearts of girls and women in moments of obsessive desire and fantasy, wildness and bad behavior, brokenness and fearlessness, and more. Teenage girls sneak out on a summer night to meet their boyfriends by the train tracks. A woman escapes suffocating grief through a vivid fantasy life. Members of a cult form an unsettling chorus as they extol their passion for the same man. A love story begins over cabbages in a grocery store. A laundress' life is consumed by obsession for a famous baseball player. Two high school friends kiss all night and binge-watch Winona Ryder movies after the death of a sister. Leesa Cross-Smith's sensuous stories will drench readers in nostalgia for summer nights and sultry days, the intense friendships of teenage girls, and the innate bonds felt between women. She evokes the pangs of loss and motherhood, the headiness and destructive potential of desire, and the pure exhilaration of being female. The stories in So We Can Glow--some long, some gone in a flash, some told over text and emails--take the wild hearts of girls and women and hold them up so they can catch the light.

Stories

So We Can Glow

Evi, a classically-trained ballerina was nine months pregnant when her husband Eamon was killed. Now it is winter, and Eamon's adopted brother Dalton has moved in to help her raise six-month-old Noah

Whiskey & Ribbons

Four women take fate into their own hands in this big-hearted story of friendship, resilience, and revenge on monstrous men, from the award-winning author of Half-Blown Rose. Taking inspiration from the infamous, empowering song, Goodbye Earl follows four best friends through two unforgettable summers, fifteen years apart. In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey are in their final days of high school and on the precipice of all the things teenagers look forward to when anything in life seems possible . . . from falling in love, to finding their dream jobs, to becoming who they were meant to be. In 2019, Kasey has returned to her small Southern hometown of Goldie for the first time since high school--and she still hasn't told even her closest friends the truth of what really happened that summer after graduation, or what made her leave so abruptly without looking back. Now reunited with her friends in Goldie for a wedding, she's determined to focus on the simple joy of being together again. But when she notices troubling signs that one of them might be in danger, she is catapulted back to that fateful summer. This time, Kasey refuses to let the worst moments of her past define her; this time, she knows how to protect those she loves at all costs. Uplifting, sharp-edged, and unapologetic, Goodbye Earl is a funeral for all the "Earls" out there--the abusive men who think they can get away with anything, but are wrong--and a celebration of enduring sisterhood.

A Revenge Novel

Goodbye Earl

Every Kiss a War

From the award-winning author of This Close to Okay comes the irresistible story of a woman remaking her life after her husband’s betrayal leads to a year of travel, art, and passion in Paris. Vincent, having grown up the privileged daughter of artists, has a life that is lovely in many ways. At forty-four, she enjoys strolling the streets of Paris and teaching at the modern art museum; she has a vibrant group of friends; and she’s even caught the eye of a young, charismatic man named Loup. But Vincent is also in Paris to escape a painful betrayal: her husband, Cillian, has published a bestselling book divulging secrets about his past and their marriage, including the fact that when he was a teenager, he may have had a child with a young woman back in Dublin—before his family moved to California and never returned. Now estranged, Vincent has agreed to see Cillian again at their son’s wedding the following summer, but Loup introduces new complications. Soon they begin an intense affair, and somewhere between dinners made together, hazy evenings in nightclubs where Loup’s band plays, and long, starry walks along the Seine, Vincent feels herself blossoming. Filled with playlists, travel journal entries, and excerpts from Cillian’s novel, Half-Blown Rose traverses Paris, liminal spaces, and the messy complexities of relationships. As Cillian does all he can to win her back, Vincent must decide what she wants . . . and who she will be.

The Great Barrier Reef Is Dying but so Are We

Half-blown Rose

Gewinnerin des Independent Publishers Award 2019! Evangelines Leben war perfekt: Sie war glücklich verheiratet und erwartete ihr erstes Kind. Aber dann stirbt ihr Ehemann Eamon kurz vor der Geburt ihres Sohnes. In dieser schweren Zeit ist Eamons bester Freund Dalton ihr rettender Engel. Doch je besser Evangeline mit der Zeit die Trauer verarbeitet, umso weniger kann sie die Gefühle unterdrücken, die sie inzwischen für Dalton entwickelt. Aber können Evangeline und Dalton glücklich werden, ohne Eamon zu verraten?

Leesa Cross-Smith

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