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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

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Allison Larkin

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

The People We Keep

“One of the most compelling and determined protagonists I’ve met in a long time. April had me on the first page and hasn’t let me go yet. Her quest to heal deep childhood wounds and find her true place in the world is one that will resonate with every reader."

Allison Larkin has created the perfect tribute to the healing power of music, the road, and the souls we meet along the way, those who truly belong to us."

—Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader and The Fifth Petal

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Praise

“In sparkling and unflinching prose, Larkin spins a propulsive story about friendship and intimacy, love and loss, and the healing power of art. A big-hearted and deeply moving novel.”
—Bruce Holsinger, author of The Gifted School

“Raw, emotional, and deeply consuming, The People We Keep is the kind of novel that sticks in your soul. Allison Larkin brings insight and emotion to this take of a young woman’s odyssey, creating characters so believable you’ll almost start Googling them to find out if they’re real.”
 —Ann Mah, bestselling author of The Lost Village

“Raw, surprising and ultimately uplifting, Allison Larkin’s The People We Keep will break your heart a million different ways before putting it back together again.”
- Julia Claiborne Johnson, author of Be Frank with Me and Better Luck Next Time

“Tender, tragic, and triumphant. Allison Larkin has created a cast of characters in The People We Keep that thrums with realism—stripped bare, naked humanity—and a story that stings of what it means to build the family you need when life doesn’t give that to you from birth. This is a story you will never forget. I loved it with all my heart.”
- Therese Walsh, author of The Moon Sisters

allisonlarkin

About allison

Allison Larkin is the internationally bestselling author of the novels, Stay, Why Can’t I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Her short fiction has been published in the Summerset Review and Slice, and nonfiction in the anthologies, I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship and Author in Progress.

She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, with her husband, Jeremy.

PRESS

“Larkin writes from the heart about yearning, giving readers characters to fall in love with, while grabbing them with her honest, believable prose.

—Diablo Magazine

“The People We Keep is ultimately about resilience, compassion, and the fact that the good folks really are out there—if we can just find the courage to give them a chance.”
—Rachel Bilson, Book of the Month Club Pick

“Both hopeful and heartbreaking, The People We Keep follows a young songwriter in the ‘90s healing through music and searching for connection in the world.”
—Parade

"At turns heartbreaking and hopeful, Allison Larkin’s diverse cast of characters reminds us of how love comes in many forms and true family turns up for us when least expected—all we have to do is let them in.”
— Elaine & Luisa’s Picks for Summer 2021, Book Passage

 “Music and the generosity of strangers provide healing in Larkin’s emotionally expansive latest…This hopeful story will move readers.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Larkin has created a memorable character in April, whose journey toward belonging and self-acceptance will resonate with readers. The depiction of the mid-1990s is pitch-perfect and will invoke feelings of nostalgia, especially in Gen Xers who came of age during this era. Fans of Caitlin Moran’s How to Build a Girl will enjoy traveling alongside April.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“The People We Keep is intimate, urgent and direct; April's first-person voice is magnetic, compelling… This is a novel of great empathy, about connections and coming of age, built families and self-acceptance. It contains heartbreak and redemption, and a plucky, irresistible protagonist… [A] propulsive, empathetic novel.”

—Shelf Awareness

For press inquiries please contact gallerypublicity(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)simonandschuster.com

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The Book

The bestselling author of the “moving, humorous, and utterly absorbing novel” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Swimming for Sunlight returns with a heartbreaking and soul-stirring coming-of-age tale about a young songwriter longing to find a home in the world.

Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a run-down motorhome, flunking out of school, and picking up shifts at the local diner. But when April realizes she’s finally had enough—enough of her selfish, absent father and barely surviving in an unfeeling town—she decides to make a break for it. Stealing a car and with only her music to keep her company, April hits the road, determined to live life on her own terms.

She manages to scrape together a meaningful existence on the road, encountering people and places that grab hold of her heart. From lifelong friendships to tragic heartbreaks, April chronicles her journey in the beautiful music she creates as she discovers that home is with the people you choose to keep.

“Larkin knows her characters so well,” (Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park) and brings her “tender, and real” (Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of Daisy Jones & The Six) prose to this unflinching, lyrical tale that is perfect for anyone who has ever yearned for the fierce power of belonging or to understand the profound beauty of a family found along the way.

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Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda match. I admit it. Alright? We all knew this was coming. None of this should be a surprise to any of us. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogjacket #peoplewhomatchtheirdogs
Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn chair. And she likes it! #dailyroxydog #chihuahuamix #ilovemydog
We are in the habit of starting and ending our day We are in the habit of starting and ending our days side by side in our lawn chairs, while the light rises or dims. It’s still chilly at the outer edges of the day. Sometimes Roxy shivers. I bought her a sweater, but she won’t wear it. Sometimes I try to wrap her in my jacket, but she’s not having that either, so I throw her ball and try to get her run and then she comes back to her chair, warm for a little longer. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogssittinginchairs
“I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to “I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to heaven in a split pea shell.” ~ @petermulvey43 Words Too Small to Say
Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyro Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyroxydog #huskymixesofinstagram
I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic ant I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic antique store sometime in November and didn’t buy it. But then, of course, I kept thinking about her. She’s the perfect size for my office, and I found those drawer pulls hilarious. When I finally went back in December, I told myself I was shopping for wall art, because I assumed she would be gone. But she was right where I’d seen her last: balanced on another dresser with boxes of old picture frames and tchotchkes piled on top (the true mark of a magic antique store). I didn’t even realize she had a towel rack — that she was a wash stand, not a dresser — until I asked about the price, said I’d take her, and my favorite magic antique store person asked if we needed to unscrew the towel rack to fit her in my car. I suspect this little sweetie is not from the days of necessary wash stands so much as from a country kitchen in the 80s. She was in rough shape, and not made from wood worth stripping and re-staining, but her price reflected that. I had to disassemble that door and put it back together, but I’d been in the market for some experience working with old furniture, and she made me feel brave about trying. I thought about painting her something more neutral, but I’m so glad I didn’t. She deserves to be pink. She’s not perfectly painted and needs a few touch ups. I learned some things about chalk paint and finishes. The drawers stick a bit. Eventually, I’d like to line them with fabric and when I do, I might plane the edges to smooth things out. But goodness, I love her in a way that I wouldn’t if I hadn’t spent time cleaning away her cobwebs and scrubbing the grime from her hilarious drawer pulls. She’s also become a little shrine for the book I’m working on, which makes me love her even more. I’ve always been a person who sees some soul in certain things, and I’m learning to cherish that idiosyncrasy, because there’s so much joy to be found in a brave little toaster or an underdog wash stand. We’re not here in the world for all that long. We may as well love some bright little things. #furnituremakeover
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