The Book of CarolSue

Award-winning author Lynne Hugo returns with a life-affirming, poignant novel in the spirit of A Man

Called Ove—a story brimming with both wit and warmth about how a family gets on … and goes on.

CarolSue and her sister, Louisa, are best friends, but haven’t had much in common since CarolSue married Charlie,

moved to Atlanta, and swapped shoes covered with Indiana farm dust and chicken poop for fresh pedicures and

afternoon bridge. Louisa, meanwhile, loves her farm and animals as deeply as she’d loved Harold, her late husband of

forty years.

Charlie’s sudden death leaves CarolSue so adrift that she surrenders to Louisa’s plan for her to move back home. But

canning vegetables and feeding chickens are alien to CarolSue, and after stumbling onto a secret Louisa’s been keeping

from her, CarolSue resolves to return to Atlanta—until Louisa’s son, Reverend Gary, arrives with an abandoned infant

and a dubious story. He begs the women to look after the baby while he locates the mother—a young immigrant who

fears deportation.

Keeping his own secrets, Gary enlists the aid of the sheriff, Gus, in the search. But CarolSue’s bond with the baby

is undeniable, and she forms an unconventional secret plan of her own. Only Gary knows about the outsider with the

power to explode their lives. How many mistakes can be redeemed?