Coming June 17, 2025


“Exuberant and big-hearted, powerful and witty”
 

—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest 

“I am astonished that this is Jessica Berger Gross's first novel.”

—Alice Elliott Dark, national bestselling author of Fellowship Point

 PRE-ORDER: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Indigo.ca

When a tight-knit family moves from Brooklyn to Maine, their lives are upended by an event that will alter their new community forever in this bighearted, sparkling debut for fans of Now Is Not the Time to Panic, Pineapple Street, and Schitt’s Creek

Hazel Blum, please report to the principal’s office. Hazel Blum.

When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere college town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, spend the summer at the town pool, where they acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.