Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay: A Novel

A widowed and grieving young novelist believes her words create realities—both tragic and charmed—in a hopeful and surprising novel about family, newfound love, and moving on. Four years after her husband Sam’s tragic death mirrored a fatal plotline in her debut novel, Thea Packer hasn’t written another word, afraid that what she writes could come true again. Resigned to raising her young daughter in her in-laws’ guesthouse, Thea is on the verge of abandoning her literary career when inspiration strikes. Her new book is a fairy-tale romance featuring a long-lost astronaut who miraculously returns home to his family, with the hero loosely drawn from Thea’s memories of Sam. Thea considers the fantasy a harmless way to process her grief. That is, until a charismatic man walks into her life—and he’s an astronaut. Thea can’t believe it’s happening again. Or is it? Her mother-in-law doesn’t think so—she sees only a woman increasingly detached from reality. Now, as coincidences between Thea’s writing and reality pile up, Thea must unravel the secrets of her past and tackle her grief head-on before she loses more than she ever imagined.