WINNER OF THE 2024 THOMAS E. KENNEDY NOVEL AWARD:

Emma’s life wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was a high school valedictorian, then a Princeton grad, now an English professor—and so what if she’s just an adjunct? But her marriage has blown up and she’s moved home with her son to Pennsylvania, where things have changed. Her mom has died and her dad’s living in a tent with dementia. And her son Thomas, whose dad is Pakistani, doesn’t quite fit in. When Emma’s asked to help create a list of diverse books for their school district, her life intersects with memorable local characters. She dates the college baseball coach, a lifelong underachiever whose older brother is the firebrand school board president; she befriends the one sensible school board member whose lesbian daughter is struggling to come out; she endures the lonely school principal who might have a crush on her; and she encounters the young local reporter who gets thrust into a national news story: The school board has banned the books she helped select. But Emma and her newfound allies are determined to fight the ban.

Author: Richard Fellinger
Hardcover/Paperback: 280 pages
ISBN: 9781947175921

Richard Fellinger is an award-winning author, former journalist, and longtime college writing instructor. He’s the author of the novels Summer of ’85 and Made To Break Your Heart and the story collection They Hover Over Us, Winner of the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award, he’s also a Pushcart Prize nominee and winner of the Flash Fiction Contest at Red Cedar Review. He lives with his wife in Harrisburg, PA. Fellinger is the winner of the 2024 Thomas E. Kennedy Novel Award for his novel An American Girl.