The things that tear us apart can also bring us together

With America's entrance into World War II, the town of Blackberry Springs, Alabama, has exploded virtually overnight. Workers from all over are coming south for jobs in Uncle Sam's munitions plants--and they're bringing their pasts with them, right into Dolly Chandler's grand but fading family home turned boardinghouse.

A struggling young couple from the Midwest, unemployed professors from Chicago, a widower from Mississippi, and a shattered young veteran struggling to heal from the war are all hoping Dolly's house will help them find their way back to the lives they left behind. But the house has a past of its own.

When tragedy strikes, Dolly's only hope will be the circle of friends under her roof and their ability to discover the truth about what happened to a young bride who lived there a century before.


"This is the kind of book you can't wait to get home and read every night--to meet up with characters you genuinely like in a feels-so-real place you want to be."--Sara Peterson, editor in chief, HGTV Magazine

"A story of kindness, friendship, and healing, Almost Home shines."--Nancy Dorman-Hickson, coauthor of the award-winning Diplomacy and Diamonds

"Witty, wise, and moving. . . . Almost Home abundantly reveals how friendship and faith endure in spite of--and sometimes because of--trying times."--Jim Baker, journalist and author of The Empty Glass


Valerie Fraser Luesse is the bestselling author of Missing Isaac and an award-winning magazine writer best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she is currently the senior travel editor. She and her husband, Dave, live in Birmingham, Alabama.