Don’t you love stories about small towns and ordinary lives? We do, too, which is one reason we’re thrilled about the release of Left to Chance by Amy Sue Nathan. Congrats, Amy! And check back here later, everyone; the Tall Poppies have another new release for you today.
About Left to Chance
No one knows why Teddi Lerner left her hometown, but everyone knows why she’s back.
Twelve-year-old Shayna— talented, persistent, and adorable—persuaded “Aunt Tee” to return to Chance, Ohio, to photograph her father’s wedding. Even though it’s been six years since Shay’s mother, Celia, died, Teddi can hardly bear the thought of her best friend’s husband marrying someone else. But Teddi’s bond with Shay is stronger than the hurt.
Teddi knows it’s time to face the consequences of her hasty retreat from family, friends, and, her old flame, but when she looks through her viewfinder, nothing in her small town looks the same. That’s when she truly sees the hurt she’s caused and—maybe—how to fix it.
After the man she once loved accuses Teddi of forgetting Celia, Teddi finally admits why she ran away, and the guilt she’s carried with her. As Teddi relinquishes the distance that kept her safe, she’ll discover surprising truths about the people she left behind, and herself. And she’ll finally see what she overlooked all along.
Amy on where the spark for the story came from
“Left to Chance was my first story that was triggered and came to me in tact, complete with character names! When my lifelong best friend had a health scare and I got the call that she was fine, right there in that moment, with the phone to my ear, I knew Teddi’s story and that she was not as fortunate as me, that her best friend Celia died. The glue that holds this story together is the friendship between Teddi and Celia and what it meant to Teddi. I don’t believe I could have written a story like this without having a the same best friend since I was 16.”
What people are saying
”In Left to Chance, Teddi Lerner returns to Chance, Ohio after bolting during her best friend’s funeral six years ago. She faces her old friends, a former flame, and an adorably spunky “niece” only to discover that the definition of family is both acutely intimate and ever evolving. Amy Sue Nathan, with her signature humor, deep insight, and elegant prose, shows us that the price of admission for a life full of love and friendship is a beautiful kind of chaos.” — Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year
“In Left to Chance, Amy Sue Nathan shows us through her lovably flawed protagonist, Teddi Lerner, that you can go home again–but not without scaling a mountain of grief and unanswered questions, being schooled by the feisty adolescent daughter of your late best friend, and navigating a bona fide love triangle. In short, you can go home again, but what you’ll find there is anyone’s guess. Watching how Nathan navigates Teddi, and the reader, through it all is like pulling up a chair at a table of old friends at your favorite small town coffee shop–it’s delicious, engaging, and unexpectedly comforting even in the midst of life’s uncertainties. ” — Susan Gloss, USA Today bestselling author of the novel Vintage
“An emotionally authentic story of love, loss, and nostalgia. Amy Sue Nathan’s sharply drawn plot and characters will have you turning pages well past bedtime.” — Emily Liebert, author of Some Women
”‘Chance, Ohio, was no place for wimps.’ And there we start on our journey through Amy Sue Nathan’s wonderful book, Left To Chance. Sometimes you have to leave home, come back, and leave again, to find yourself.” — Cathy Lamb, author of The Language of Sisters
“As beautiful as Teddi Lerner’s photography, Amy Nathan’s writing will draw you into the secrets, charm, and hope of Chance, Ohio. The past is revealed, a future is found, and nothing is Left to Chance!” — Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake and The Simplicity of Cider
“In this witty, touching, beautifully written novel about grief, friendship, and love in its many forms, Amy Sue Nathan reminds us that sometimes, no matter how hard it might be, facing the past is the only way to discover what’s truly important.” — Ellen Marie Wiseman, bestselling author of What She Left Behind and The Life She Was Given
About Amy
Amy Sue Nathan is the author The Good Neighbor (St. Martin’s Press, December 2015) and The Glass Wives (St. Martin’s Press, May 2013) and dozens of articles, essays, and stories published in The Chicago Tribune, Printers Row Journal, Chicago Parent, Huffington Post, and the New York Times and Washington Post online, among many others. She teaches workshops for Writer’s Digest University, works as a freelance writer and editor, and hosts the Women’s Fiction Writers blog, where she has interviewed more than 150 authors since 2011. Amy grew up in Philadelphia and is a graduate of Temple University with a degree in Journalism (which she actually uses).
