⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Much more than a Coming-of-Age story"

Award-winning author Donald Lystra brings us a wholly unique American heroine, Audrey Brubaker, a fierce young woman who combines the tenacity of Scarlett O'Hara with the charm of Holly Golightly.

It's fall of 1963 in a city in America's industrial heartland. Audrey Brubaker, rejected by her family and community but determined to build a life for herself, becomes the unlikely mentor to Nate Walker, a math and science prodigy who has turned to art in an effort to cope with the death of a revered older brother.

In a relationship that borders on love but never quite seems to get there, Audrey gives meaning to Nate's artistic aspirations, introduces him to life's hard edges, and helps him find courage. Together they set off on an ill-fated mission: to recover Nate's brother's body from a military cemetery in northern Michigan.

Along the way, secrets are uncovered and boundaries are crossed which will change Nate's life forever. But in a heart-wrenching ending, it is Audrey who will need to tap the well-spring of Nate's empathy for her own redemptive needs.

From the streets of a decaying rust-belt city to the pristine forests of northern Michigan, Lystra weaves a narrative that tugs at your heartstrings and compels you to reflect on life and its complexities. If you loved timeless classics like Ordinary People and To Kill a Mockingbird, this book is a must-read for you!


Readers are LOVING this wonderful book:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"The story and the characters are marvelous. One has to love Audrey with all her eccentricities and flaws. How did (the author) manage to do that?"
- Dennis Turner, author of the bestselling "What Did You Do During the War, Sister?"

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Don't miss this one..... There is a deliberate carefulness, a delicacy even, that characterizes Lystra's writing..... I'm not sure how he does it, but it works...... And in the process, he is doing the writer's job - telling the truth, one true sentence at a time. This is fine writing of the highest caliber. My very highest recommendation." – TIM BAZZETT, author of BOOKLOVER and four other titles

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This is such a beautiful coming-of-age novel about two young people who connect over traumatic events they slowly reveal to one another......Lystra takes a magnifying glass to the moments of possibility...... As the novel progresses, Lystra whittles the truth out of the events the characters experience in a way that feels exactly right as you arrive at the very last page. A wonderful novel." – Amazon Reviewer

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Calling this book a coming-of-age story doesn't do it justice… set in1963 America, in the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the Kennedy assassination…. Mr. Lystra has given the reader much to think about which may be equally pertinent in the very troubled America we live in today.” –Goodreads reviewer


Don't wait! Get your copy now and embark on a moving journey that will stay with you long after the last page is turned.