Early Morning Riser: A novel

Jane’s boyfriend, Duncan, is loyal and loving, and Jane has more or less accepted the fact that he’s slept with many (or even most) of the women in their small town of Boyne City, Michigan. She’s even developed a friendship with Duncan’s ex-wife, Aggie. Duncan has made it clear to Jane that he’s not the marrying kind, which Jane is determined to accept. She spends her days teaching second graders and hanging out with her friend Frieda, who is never without her mandolin. Jane and Duncan are both fond of their neighbor Jimmy, a developmentally disabled man who lives with his mother and works in Duncan’s woodshop. Kindness comes easily to them. But when a tragic accident for which Jane is indirectly responsible leaves Jimmy alone in the world, life changes for everyone. Closed doors are open again, seemingly answered questions are back in play, and deep-seated beliefs and desires prove to be more mutable than Duncan and Jane could ever have expected.

Witty and big-hearted, Early Morning Riser examines the circuitous paths that lead to happiness. Building a family means more than just getting married and having children, while the definition of love itself is broader than Jane is able, at first, to understand. Love isn’t easy or simple, and heartache is its close companion. Accepting one requires accepting the other, for better or worse.