A heartening and life-affirming novel about a single mother learning to make a bigger life, and the power of human connection to grow our worlds. Delphine Jones’s world is about to get much bigger...if only she’d let it. Devoted single mother Delphine Jones is an expert at putting her head down and moving through life one day at a time. Since getting pregnant at sixteen, her circle has only ever included her now eleven-year-old daughter and best friend, Em, and her complicated father whom they live with. But when an opportunity for her to finish school presents itself, Delphine finally does something she hasn’t done in years: she takes a chance on herself. Sometimes all it takes is one chance. As Delphine rediscovers her passions and her belief in herself, her circle expands to include an Oscar-winning actress turned teacher, an Eritrean couple running a local café-cum-jazz club, an elderly French widow looking to converse, and a handsome musician who awakens something in Delphine that she thought had been long buried. But as Delphine’s eyes and heart start to open, she must also face questions she’s stonewalled for more than a decade, questions about Em’s father. Is she brave enough?

A heartening and life-affirming novel about a single mother learning to make a bigger life, and the power of human connection to grow our worlds. Delphine Jones’s world is about to get much bigger...if only she’d let it. Devoted single mother Delphine Jones is an expert at putting her head down and moving through life one day at a time. Since getting pregnant at sixteen, her circle has only ever included her now eleven-year-old daughter and best friend, Em, and her complicated father whom they live with. But when an opportunity for her to finish school presents itself, Delphine finally does something she hasn’t done in years: she takes a chance on herself. Sometimes all it takes is one chance. As Delphine rediscovers her passions and her belief in herself, her circle expands to include an Oscar-winning actress turned teacher, an Eritrean couple running a local café-cum-jazz club, an elderly French widow looking to converse, and a handsome musician who awakens something in Delphine that she thought had been long buried. But as Delphine’s eyes and heart start to open, she must also face questions she’s stonewalled for more than a decade, questions about Em’s father. Is she brave enough?

A hilarious and empowering perimenopausal Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, about Clover Hendry, 46, and the day she decides to stop keeping the plates spinning, say F@#! it all, and finally get hers. Today is not the day to mess with Clover Hendry. Clover hasn’t said “No” a day in her life. Until today. Normally a woman who tips her hairdresser even when the cut is hideous, is endlessly patient with her horrendous mother, and says yes every time her boss asks her to work late—today, things are going to be very different. Because Clover is taking the day off. Today, she’s going to do and say whatever she likes, even if it means her whole life unravels. What made Clover change her ways? Why doesn’t she care anymore? There’s more to this day than meets the eye. Clover Hendry's Day Off is a joyful, raging, galvanizing story about putting life on pause, pleasing yourself, and getting your own back. Whatever it takes. Because when Clover stops caring, she can start living.

Otangel Island expedition, 1921-23.