The Caring House: a novel

Charming-but-anxious Gabe and smart, self-sufficient Jenny met at a Salt Lake City grief counseling center for children when they were seven, each having lost their father to suicide. Now grown and married, they seem to have overcome their tragic upbringing, until the sudden loss of another family member upsets their hard-earned peace.

When Jenny finds a handgun in the hall closet, she worries Gabe’s grief might push him to repeat the same desperate act that left them both fatherless. Confronting Gabe, Jenny makes it clear that either the gun goes, or she does. In order to regain Jenny’s trust and restore their marriage, Gabe must wrestle with the unimaginable grief that has defined his life, confronting family secrets, the stifling religious culture of Salt Lake City, and the roads not taken along the way. Jenny has to decide if she can trust Gabe and build a family with him or if their shared past tragedies preclude a happy future for them together.

RAJ LULLA is an Indian American author from Omaha, NE, where he lives with his wife, Lindsey, and three children.

He is the author of The Caring House and Principal Brand Strategist at Fruitful Design & Strategy.