UNKNOWN

*WINNER*
36th Annual Midwest Book Awards (Insightful LGBTQ+ Perspectives); Global Book Awards (LGBTQ+); Literary Titan Book Awards (Drama); Outstanding Creator Awards (Drama); Storytrade Book Awards (Fiction - Regional - USA Midwest); PenCraft Book Awards (Fiction - Drama); Firebird Book Awards (Parenting & Family)

"(Before Closure) succeeds as both a character study and an aesthetic exercise: careful, observant, and quietly precise."
- Kirkus Review

"Grei delivers a heartfelt exploration of what happens when the pillars of family life crack without warning … echoing the lyrical melancholy of authors like Ann Patchett at her most elegiac."
- Booklife Review (Publishers Weekly), Editor's Pick

Seven months ago, Carol Parker left a note on the kitchen counter and walked out on her life, leaving behind a husband of nearly forty years and two adult children to navigate the silence she left behind.

In three days, Clayton is convinced his wife will return. It will be their fortieth wedding anniversary, and he believes she’ll come back to celebrate and rebuild what’s been broken.

Frankie and Jules aren’t so sure. Frankie has gone numb in the wake of his own relationship’s collapse, and Jules is barely holding a fragile marriage together. As one Iowa summer weekend unfolds, each of them must face an invitation to rethink the future they were expecting.

Told with sharp insight and quiet compassion, Before Closure is a tender portrait of love stretched thin, the burden of unspoken truths, and the messy grace of daring to live.