The author of the Edgar nominated and ALEX Award-winning How Lucky (“an absorbing thriller with heart”—People), blends suspense, humor, and compassion in a new novel about seven strangers and one very intense evening at a small-town Georgia pharmacy.
Lindbergh’s Pharmacy is an Athens, Georgia, institution—the type of beloved mom and pop shop that once dotted every American town but has mostly disappeared. But Lindbergh’s has recently become the object of attention of a local fourth grade teacher Tina Lamm (“Ms. Lamm to my students”). Tina is certain something very, very bad is happening behind its famous black door and she intends to do something about it.
Her suspicions—and the drastic actions she plans—are the unlikely glue that will connect her to a group of six employees and customers inside the pharmacy one hot Georgia evening. They include Theo, the Lindbergh’s scion with a secret of his own; Daphne, a nurse and Army veteran struggling with her faith; Jason, a local contractor uncertain how to deal with his gifted teenage son; Karson, a young lawyer and activist wrestling with a job offer that makes him uncomfortable; David, an Athens music scene lifer whose sobriety has been sorely tested by isolation; and Dorothy, a widow just beginning to regain her bearings.
The fates of these individuals—and their fateful encounter with Tina Lamm—become intertwined in a story that is by turns funny, touching, and tense. As he did in How Lucky, Will Leitch illuminates how we live today through a story of human beings struggling to do their best.
Author Info
Will Leitch is the author of the novel How Lucky and a contributing editor at New York magazine and the founder of the late sports website Deadspin. He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, NBC News, CNN, and MLB.com. He lives in Athens, Georgia, with his wife and two sons.
Reviews
“Will Leitch has written another compelling and propulsive novel that I could not put down. What makes him such an amazing writer is his keen eye for what makes us human, all the seemingly invisible threads that connect us and those shocking moments when we’re pulled together and forced to reckon with the world. Leitch is as empathetic a writer as they come, and I trust him to guide me through any danger, any story, and know I’ll come out of it with something special.” — Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic
“With kindness, empathy, and the generosity of spirit that is the hallmark of his work, Will Leitch takes seven very different characters and brings them vividly to life, skillfully weaving their fates in a story that is taut, surprising, and ultimately speaks to the character of America itself.” — Jenny Jackson, author of Pineapple Street
"I'm reading a fantastic novel by Will Leitch called How Lucky. Publishes in May, I think. It's suspenseful and often wildly funny. You are going to like this a lot, and I think a lot of you are going to like it. It has that Where the Crawdads Sing vibe." — Stephen King
“An absorbing thriller with heart.” — People
“Not many writers can shift gears from hilarious to heart-rending to harrowing, all on the same page. Will Leitch does it again and again. How Lucky is one of the most original thrillers I've read in years, with an improbable hero that no reader will ever forget.” — Carl Hiaasen
“A touchingly imagined portrait of friendship and community.” — Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
“Witty, vigorously written. . . . How Lucky succeeds on more than just luck . . . Leitch builds his cast beautifully. . . . Gives us an authentic, compelling portrait of a narrator who motors through the obstacle course of his life with grit and grace.” — Hamilton Cain, Washington Post
“How Lucky is a gem: a riveting plot and a narrator who is charming, engaging, and downright inspiring. Will Leitch brilliantly juggles hilarity and horror. I loved this novel — every page.” — Chris Bohjalian, #1 Bestselling Author of The Flight Attendant and Hour of the Witch
“What’s more thrilling than a fictional character speaking to us in a voice we haven’t heard before, a voice so authentic and immediate - think Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield, Mattie Ross - that we suspect it must’ve been there all along, that we somehow managed to miss it? Daniel, the protagonist of Will Leitch’s smart, funny, heartbreaking new novel How Lucky, is just such a voice, and I’m not sure it will ever completely leave my head, or that I want it to.” — Richard Russo
“A lovely book. Set in Athens, Georgia, the novel is a model of verisimilitude. It is also beautifully written and suspenseful, at the same time being all about goodness and caring without once being sappy, or, well, sentimental. And that is a rare feat in fiction.” — Booklist (starred review)
"Leitch touches on issues of historical concern as well as current social ills as the suspense builds toward Tina’s misguided, violent attempt at settling scores in a game she may not totally understand. Humor and empathy propel Leitch’s characters toward their fates." — Kirkus Reviews
"Leitch’s panoramic narrative hopscotches back and forth between the viewpoints of his characters as they go about their daily routines, oblivious to their impending fates. Leitch brings a Chekhovian economy to the storytelling—Tina’s guns are mentioned in the first act, and they indeed go off before it’s all over—but his emphasis is on the humanity of all involved. It’s an all-too-plausible slice of life." — Publishers Weekly
