She's Up to No Good

Jenna is four years into her marriage when her husband asks for a divorce. With no job pulling at her and her life upended, she says yes when her eccentric grandmother Evelyn asks her to come along on a road trip. The destination is a seaside town in Massachusetts, where the family's history took shape.

On the drive, Evelyn tells the story of Tony, the forbidden first love of her teenage years, more than seventy years ago. She claims the trip has nothing to do with him, though she keeps returning to his name.

In the town, Jenna meets Tony's great-nephew Joe, who pays her real attention. The friendship and the sea air give her some distance from the marriage that has just ended, and a little confidence to go with it.

The novel moves between a present-day divorce recovery and the older woman's memories, with a warm, gently comic tone. As Evelyn's secrets come out, Jenna sees a side of her grandmother she never suspected, and a side of herself too. The open question is what Evelyn really came back to find.