The Countdown Begins: Announcing Debut Novel, Cassie
A father dies alone on a bench facing the wrong way.
That's where the book starts. That's where it ends too, in a way, though thirty-four years pass in between.
Cassie is my debut novel and I have been living inside it for a long time. It is the story of a father and a daughter told in alternating perspectives across a thirty-four-year countdown to his death. His world contracts. Hers expands. They inherited the same damage. Only one of them chose something new. And yes, you get to be inside BOTH their heads in equal measure.
It is a gritty, contemporary story and, I mean this, genuinely joyous in places. There is barn wine and a nudist neighbor and a best friend who makes sure you wax before date night. There is also a man who looks past his daughter's face, who doesn't ask her how she is, and a daughter who keeps calling anyway.
It asks one question that I have been sitting with for years: what separates the people who break the cycle from the ones who become it?
Cassie is for readers of Elizabeth Strout and Barbara Kingsolver.
The Free Book Club Kit
I am creating immersive fiction at Omnigrapher Press where my hope is that the lines between the book and your real life is erased. To that end, I created an immersive book club kit and it is completely FREE.
It includes:
- A full discussion guide with questions organized around the book's central themes — not plot questions, the kind that make people say wait, that's actually about my life
- The divisive questions — the ones designed to split the room
- The unanswerable question — the one the book itself refuses to resolve
- A complete evening setup guide including the menu, the playlists, the activities, and yes — the empty chair
- Full Menu for the evening plus the bread recipe from the book, written in Cassie's voice
- Music
It's free. No catch.
[Download the Free Cassie Book Club Kit here]
How to get ready for launch:
- Download the kit and take a look around
- Find the people in your life who love books that don't let them go
- Share this post if you know someone who needs Cassie
More soon —
Thank you for being here at the beginning.
— Brittany