All This Can Be True

(Paperback, New edition)

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Description

For fans of Modern Lovers and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo comes a tender queer romance about one woman's rediscovery of choice, hope, and wild love in the wake of her husband's coma.

When Lacie Johnson's husband, Derek, suffers a stroke at forty-seven and falls into a coma, her plans come to a screeching halt-asking Derek for a divorce, going back to school to get her master's, and starting over as a single woman now that their children have grown up. But what begins as a disaster brings an unexpected blessing in the form of Quinn, a kind stranger whom Lacie meets in the halls of the hospital.

This is just a stop-over for Quinn, who is traveling up to the British Columbia coast to live in a co-op of grief survivors on a remote island after the loss of her young daughter. She's also the former singer of a post-riot grrrl band who fled the group and the public eye more than fifteen years ago for reasons unknown. Lacie thinks she's discovered in Quinn the life and the person she's always wanted. But Quinn harbors a secret that connects her to Derek. And if Derek wakes up, Quinn must come clean and risk destroying her growing relationship with Lacie.

Told in alternating points of view, All This Can Be True follows Lacie and Quinn as they make the journey to each other-and then grapple with the fallout.

Reviews

Achingly good! Jen Michalski is a writer of intelligence, heart, and endless talent, and All This Can Be True just might be her best yet. Emotionally powerful, perfectly paced, and beautifully written, you wont be able to put this book down. Bravo! Matthew Norman, author of Charm City Rocks

When Lacie Johnsons husband Derek, falls ill, she is faced with the choice to return to the status quo of her unsatisfying marriage, or risk losing everything for the chance to finally live an authentic life. All This Can Be True is a profoundly moving story about the tangled web of intimate relationships, the paradoxical power of secrets to both destroy and unite a family, and the hard-earned rewards of stepping out of the darkness and into the light of ones own truth. You will savor this richly layered novel, from the first page to the last.Sandra A. Miller, author ofWednesdays at One

Author Bio

Jen Michalski is the author of three novels, three short story collections, and a couplet of novellas. Her latest collection of fiction,The Company of Strangers, was an Electric Literature's "Small Press Books You Should Be Reading This Summer" and a 2023 Baltimore Magazine's Best of Baltimore winner. Her last novel, You'll Be Fine, was a 2021 Buzzfeed "Best Small Press Book," a 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, and was selected as one of the "Best Books We Read This Year" by the Independent Press Review. She's the editor of the weekly online literary weekly jmww and currently lives in Southern California, although she will always be a Baltimore girl at heart. Visit her at jenmichalski.com.