GRACELAND

A big-hearted, funny, and fast-paced debut novel that follows three generations of women at odds with one another on a road-trip chase from Boston to Memphis, for fans of Gilmore Girls and readers of Maria Semple

Former soap-star Olivia Grant is used to getting what she wants. The Elvis-obsessed actress is determined to visit Graceland one more time before she dies but can't do it alone. She's on oxygen now, and knows her daughter, Hope, won't drive her. Hope fled Memphis years earlier for reasons she's kept secret, but Olivia has uncovered the truth. She believes revealing it by luring Hope back to Memphis is the best gift she can offer her daughter. And if that means Olivia herself gets what she wants—well, where's the harm in that?
Enter Dylan, Hope's pink-haired activist daughter, whose one obsession is finding out more about her mysterious father. Olivia promises Dylan that she can meet her father in Memphis, if Dylan will drive them there in her tin-can of a beat-up (but pink!) VW Beetle, and off they go.
When Hope discovers that her mother and daughter have taken off for Graceland, she suspects they know her secret: Dylan's father is a US Senator from Memphis and he's in town that weekend. With the help of her cross-dressing cousin, Hope must stop publicity-hound Olivia and militant Dylan before they ambush the senator and reveal her secret to the world.
Along the way, as they encounter a memorable cast of characters—including Olivia's ferret-owning co-star and a band of Elvis impersonating frat brothers—long-held secrets begin to surface. In order to become the family they all long to be, Olivia, Hope, and Dylan must face hard truths about each other and themselves on the bumpy road to acceptance, forgiveness, and ultimately, grace.

NANCY CROCHIERE wrote a humor column for The Daily News of Newburyport and Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Massachusetts, for fifteen years. In 2014, she collected her favorite columns into a book titled The Mother Load, which was a finalist for Foreword Reviews' Book of the Year in humor and the Independent Publishers of New England 2014 Book Award. Her essays have also appeared in The Boston Globe, Writer's Digest, and WBUR's Cognoscenti. Nancy first recognized her talent for writing fiction while penning creative notes excusing her daughters' tardiness at school. Having succeeded in launching two children without either knocking over a convenience store, Nancy now lives north of Boston with her husband, Paul, a world-class marathoner, and a few houseplants whose future is uncertain. In her spare time, Nancy acts as an “extra” in feature films and TV shows. Graceland is her debut novel.