Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance: A Novel [Paperback]

Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR andThe Chicago Tribune
An Indie Next pick for June 2022
AUSA Today Must Read
Named a Most Anticipated Book of May byThe Millions

A vividly felt love story from the bestselling author ofThe Wedding People.

Heartbreaking and funny, often in the same sentencea deeply felt, finely wrought, and highly satisfying novel. Alison Espach has created a family whose every sorrow, joy, and idiosyncrasy is utterly, vibrantly real.The New York Timesbestselling author Claire Lombardo

For much of her life, Sally Holt has been mystified by the things her older sister, Kathy, seems to have been born knowing. Kathy has answers for all of Sallys questions about life, about love, and about Billy Barnes, a rising senior and local basketball star who mans the concession stand at the town pool. The girls have been fascinated by Billy ever since he jumped off the roof in elementary school, but Billy has never shown much interest in them until the summer before Sally begins eighth grade. By then, their mutual infatuation with Billy is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. Sally spends much of that summer at the pool, watching in confusion and excitement as her sister falls deeper in love with Billyuntil a tragedy leaves Sallys life forever intertwined with his.

Opening in the early nineties and charting almost two decades of shared history and missed connections,Notes on Your Sudden Disappearanceis both a breathtaking love story about two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other and a wryly astute coming-of-age tale brimming with unexpected moments of joy.

Alison Espachis the author of the novelThe Adults, aNew York TimesEditors' Choice and a Barnes & Noble Discover pick. Her short stories and essays have appeared inVogue, Joyland, lp