THE EMILYS is about love’s capacities in a changing world, in which a mother returns to her hometown and reconnects with a lost friend just as a mysterious illness begins to fray the communal fabric of their New England town, for readers of Birnam Wood and The Overstory.

THE EMILYS
by Heather Abel
Random House, 2026
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

Eve, the daughter of a renowned, tempestuous writer, is isolated in early motherhood when she runs into an enigmatic childhood friend she calls Demeter. Demeter’s daughter is unable to tolerate sunlight, and no doctors believe that the girl’s illness, which comes to be known as Emily Syndrome, is real. But Eve believes, and even suspects that it is the fact that Demeter is a struggling, under-educated single mother that the medical system shrugs off her daughter’s unusual symptoms. Their captivating, reborn relationship revives Eve, then pulls her into a crisis that engulfs her town and even threatens her own family. Determined to help everyone she loves, Eve learns that when disaster hits, we might not all be heroes, but our own flawed selves can be everything we need. 

Heather Abel is the author of the novel The Optimistic Decade (Algonquin, 2018). Her essays have appeared widely, including in the New York Times, Slate, Buzzfeed, Tablet, and the Paris Review Daily. Her short stories have been published by Five Points and Agni and cited as distinguished by Best American Stories. She worked as a reporter and editor in California and Colorado before moving to New York where she received an MFA in fiction writing from the New School University. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts and currently teaches writing at Smith College.