An American Girl (Paperback or Softback)

Winner of the inaugural Thomas E. Kennedy Novel Award
Shortlisted for The Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Books
Shortlisted for a Page Turner Award, Novel-in-Progress
Runner-Up for the Seven Hills Review Novel Excerpt Contest

Emma’s life wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was a high school valedictorian, then a Princeton grad, now an English professor—and so what if she’s just an adjunct? But her marriage has blown up and she’s moved home with her son to Pennsylvania, where things have changed. Her mom has died and her dad’s living in a tent with dementia. And her son Thomas, whose dad is Pakistani, doesn’t fit in. When Emma’s asked to help create a list of diverse books for their school district, her life intersects with memorable local characters. She dates the college baseball coach, a lifelong underachiever whose older brother is the firebrand school board president; she befriends the one sensible school board member whose lesbian daughter is struggling to come out; she endures the lonely school principal who might have a crush on her; and she encounters the young local reporter who gets thrust into a national news story: The school board has banned the books she helped select. But Emma and her newfound allies are determined to fight the ban.