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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

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“Swimming for Sunlight hits all of the women’s fiction sweet spots: strong relationships that grow throughout the book, light romance, and a main character who is easy to root for. An excellent suggestion for readers looking for an engaging summer read.
—Booklist, starred review

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She’s a master at creating complex characters who feel like old friends and crafting situations that you’d swear really happened. In other words? I adored this book! Put Allie Larkin on your Authors to Watch List because she’s at the top her game.”
-Jen Lancaster, New York Times Bestselling author of BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK and HERE I GO AGAIN

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Larkin debuts with a funny and touching story about love, loss, and dog ownership.”
- Publishers Weekly

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swimming for sunlight

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Aspiring costume designer Katie gave up everything in her divorce to gain custody of her fearful, faithful rescue dog, Barkimedes. While she figures out what to do next, she heads back to Florida to live with her grandmother, Nan.

But Katie quickly learns there’s a lot she doesn’t know about Nan—like the fact that in her youth Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside attraction show, swimming and dancing underwater with a close-knit cast of talented women. Although most of the mermaids have since lost touch, Katie helps Nan search for her old friends on Facebook, sparking hopes for a reunion show. Katie is up for making some fabulous costumes, but first, she has to contend with her crippling fear of water.

As Katie’s college love Luca, a documentary filmmaker, enters the fray, Katie struggles to balance her hopes with her anxiety and begins to realize just how much Bark’s fears are connected to her own, in this thoughtful, charming novel about hope after loss and friendships that span generations.

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Praise

"Larkin enthralls with a revealing view of one woman’s life as she moves on after a painful divorce. . . . Emotional and heartwarming, Larkin’s touching story is complete with romance, nostalgia, and genuine friendship."
-Publishers Weekly

"Swimming for Sunlight hits all of the women’s fiction sweet spots: strong relationships that grow throughout the book, light romance, and a main character who is easy to root for. An excellent suggestion for readers looking for an engaging summer read."
-Booklist, starred review

"Brimming with enchanting detail and heartfelt emotion.”
-Woman's World

"[An] insightful novel, which contains humorous selections to keep it light and fast moving."
-NY Journal of Books

"A great spring read."
-Marin Magazine

"There’s a new must-love dog in the neighborhood . . . [a] heartening and humorous tale."
-Diablo Magazine

"This novel of hope, loss and friendships—both human and furry—make for the perfect spring read."
-Dogster Magazine

"Allie Larkin knows her characters so well—and loves them so much. Reading Swimming for Sunlight is like visiting a real place, spending time with a real and really good friend."
-Rainbow Rowell#1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park

"With a light touch and a big heart, Allie Larkin has crafted a moving, humorous, and utterly absorbing novel about a woman who discovers that sometimes you need to take a step back to learn how to move forward. I fell in love with her witty, strong-willed, resilient characters — including Barkimedes, the rescue pup whose spirit sparks both joy and growth in everyone he meets."
-Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

"Populated by vivid characters that include aging "mermaids" and a companion dog so endearing that I, a "cat person," was tempted to go find my own Barkimedes, Swimming for Sunlight is a rare thing: an intelligent, compassionate, entertaining tale that satisfies both the heart and the head. I loved this book and everyone in it!"
- Therese Anne Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Behaved Woman

"Poignant and funny, touching and eccentric, Swimming for Sunlight is brimming with heart. A gem of a novel that will charm not only dog lovers, but anyone, anywhere who's ever felt a twinge of anxiety. In other words, all of us"
- Tish Cohen, author of Town House

"I loved every page of this beautiful, heartfelt book. Full of compassion, warmth, and charm, Larkin makes a complex story about anxiety and loss and female friendships at all ages feel both effortless and hopeful. I dare you not to hug this book when you finish."
- Julie Buxbaum, New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things

"A heartfelt and bittersweet ode to taking the long-view of life when we fall short of our own expectations, to choosing courage and hope in the face of disappointment and tragedy. This book was just what my soul needed."
- Julia Whelan, author of My Oxford Year

"Sweet, tender, and real, Allie Larkin's work is funny, endearing, and simply lovely time and time again"
- Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

"A thoughtful, tender story about losing everything and starting all over again, Swimming for Sunlight reminds us of the joy that comes when we open our hearts to unexpected friendships."
- Ann Mah, author of The Lost Vintage

"In Swimming for Sunlight, Allie Larkin has written an absorbing, insightful tale of all the people and places in which we find strength. She's created a world I’d love to live in, full of vividly rendered characters who are as complex and resilient as they are big-hearted and funny. There is nothing like a great story, well-told; this is Larkin’s specific expertise.”
-Caroline Angell, author of All the Time in the World

"I instantly fell in love with this narrator—who’s brave, funny, feisty, tender, and, most of all, relatable. She handles a seismic change in her life with rapier-sharp humor and grace, proving that life’s curveballs can be processed with love and laughter—and the often-underestimated power of the companionship and loyalty of animals. Katie's next chapter in life takes us on a wild, waterpark ride, addressing losses in her past, the surfacing of a college flame, and a grandmother you'll wish was your own. Add to this Larkin’s descriptive writing—which sparkles on the page—and you have a gem of a novel."
- Lolly Winston, New York Times bestselling author of Good Grief and Happiness Sold Separately

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why can't I be you

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At one time or another, everyone has wished they could be someone else. Exploring this universal longing, Allie Larkin follows up the success of her debut novel, Stay, with a moving portrait of friendship and identity.

When Jenny Shaw hears someone shout “Jessie!” across a hotel lobby, she impulsively answers. All her life, Jenny has toed the line, but something propels her to seize the opportunity to become Jessie Morgan, a woman to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Lonely in her own life, Jenny is embraced by Jessie’s warm circle of friends—and finds unexpected romance. But when she delves into Jessie’s past, Jenny discovers a secret that spurs her to take another leap into the unknown.

 

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Praise

"Allie Larkin’s latest, WHY CAN’T I BE YOU, is an engaging and smart novel with rich characters.” – SheKnows.com Red Hot Book of the Week

“This is a fun and quirky read for anyone who always wondered what it would be like to live life in someone else’s shoes. Readers will likely identify with the main character, and will definitely enjoy the crazy ride along the way thanks to Larkin’s breezy and light writing style.” – Romantic Times Book Review

“The wonderful dialogue and character development make it easy to get swept up and wonder not who would I rather be, but what am I holding back?” – The Gazette

“Allie Larkin provides an unexpected and completely fresh take on the familiar theme of mistaken identify in WHY CAN’T I BE YOU. She’s a master at creating complex characters who feel like old friends and crafting situations that you’d swear really happened. In other words? I adored this book! Put Allie Larkin on your Authors to Watch List because she’s at the top her game.” – Jen Lancaster, bestselling author of JENERATION X

“Allie Larkin’s latest explores an intriguing question: What if you could shed your own life, and step into someone else’s? WHY CAN’T I BE YOU is a thoughtful and compulsively readable examination of identity, friendship and trust – and what happens when all three spectacularly collide.” – Sarah Pekkanen, bestselling author of THESE GIRLS

“WHY CAN’T I BE YOU explores the brilliant notion that it’s not until we’ve let go of who we think we should be that we can discover who we actually are.” -Amy Hatvany, USA Today Bestselling author of OUTSIDE THE LINES

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Stay

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Savannah “Van” Leone has loved Peter since the day they met. The problem is, Peter has loved Van’s best friend, Janie, since the moment they met. And now they’re walking down the aisle, with Van standing nearby in a Halloween orange bridesmaid dress, her smile as hollow as a jack-o-lantern. After the wedding, Van drowns her sorrows in Kool Aid-vodka cocktails and reruns of Rin-Tin-Tin, and does what any woman in her situation would do: She buys a German Shepherd over the internet.

The pocket-sized puppy Van is expecting turns out to be a clumsy, hundred-pound beast that only responds to Slovakian. Van is at the end of her rope—until she realizes that this quirky giant may be the only living being who will always be loyal to her, no matter what. And thus begins a friendship that will alter Van’s life in ways she never imagined.

Joe leads Van to Dr. Alex Brandt, a rugged vet with floppy blond hair and winning smile. But just as things are starting to heat up, the newlyweds return from their honeymoon, forcing Van to decide just how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to have everything she ever wanted. Warm and witty, poignant and funny, Stay marks the arrival of an irresistible new voice.

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Praise

"So sweet, so funny, so doggone delightful." - Claire Cook, bestselling author of Best Staged Plans and Must Love Dogs

"Delightful! Both dog lovers and the pooch-free will enjoy this novel of friendship, love, and healing." - Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times bestselling author of What I Did for Love 

“Feel-good debut novel…” - People Magazine

“Larkin makes writing look easy… Stay has everything a summer read needs: humor, heart -- and, endearingly, buckets of dog slobber.” - The Miami Herald

“A charming tale of love, loss, discovery, and healing.” - Modern Dog

“Van provides a front row seat to some strong emotional healing. Readers can't help but to root for Van to the very end.” - San Francisco Book Review

“It's Gilmore Girls meets Marley & Me in this funny and compelling debut.” - Library Journal

“A charming debut…. Smart and with emotional depth, this is a cut above.” - Kirkus Reviews

"With humor and exceptional charm, Allie Larkin's story of a heartbroken young woman and the arrival of a clumsy four-legged friend who brings new meaning to her life is simply wonderful. Stay is a treat of a novel that must be shared with every girlfriend who has ever loved and lost." -Beth Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

"I cannot wait to read more from Allie Larkin - an effervescent new voice in fiction. Witty, sweet, and strikingly real, Stay is for any woman who has ever experienced heartbreak or loss and needed a friend to lean on. I loved every word!" -Beth Harbison, New York Times bestselling author of Shoe Addicts Anonymous and Hope in a Jar

"I'm madly in love with this big-hearted, charming keeper of a debut about love in all its forms, including the four-legged kind. Allie Larkin has a special and original voice." -Melissa Senate, author of See Jane Date and The Secret of Joy

"Wow! This book blew me away. Sharp. Smart. Observant. Buzzing with romance, friendship and heart. Most of all, incredibly well written. Stay is sure to become the new favorite among Emily Giffin fans. Enjoy!" -Sarah Strohmeyer, author of The Cinderella Pact and The Penny Pinchers Club

"Charming, witty, and surprisingly touching, Larkin deftly examines what it means to be family. A pleasure from start to finish, but buyer be warned: after closing the final pages of this compulsively readable novel, you might just find yourself ordering a one hundred pound German shepherd from the internet." -Julie Buxbaum, Author of The Opposite of Love and After You

ALlie Larkin

Allie Larkin is the internationally bestselling author of the novels, Stay, Why Can’t I Be You, (Dutton/Plume) and Swimming for Sunlight (Atria/Simon & Schuster). Her short fiction has been published in the Summerset Review and Slice Magazine. Her nonfiction essays are included in the dog anthology, I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship, alongside Chelsea Handler and Annabelle Gurwitch, and Author in Progress, a how-to guide for Writer’s Digest Books. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, with her husband, Jeremy, and their fearful, faithful German Shepherd, Stella.
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Allison Larkin

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Internationally bestselling author of three novels as Allie Larkin and THE PEOPLE WE KEEP. Look for HOME OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS @gallerybooks May 2025

“Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor “Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor of a more naturally flowing up-and-down journey that basks in beautiful moments like a slice-of-life story. Whether it’s banter at the bar Freya’s working or a leaking roof that is simply one more thing than she can possibly handle right now, the characters and their experiences are so real and pure that their joys and sorrows are amplified tenfold.” 

So honored by this AP review of Home of the American Circus! 

https://apnews.com/article/home-american-circus-allison-larkin-book-review-79ea3d1fdb69ef16232a8dfb7d148ad6

#homeoftheamericancircus #booksbooksbooks
I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the A I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the American Circus as my second novel. It’s actually my 5th! Before The People We Keep, under the name Allie Larkin, I wrote three books: Stay, Why Can’t I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Here they are in their various editions with some of their translations! (And @justjuliawhelan also narrated Stay and Why Can’t I Be You, if you’d like to listen!)

Fun fact: That gorgeous dog on the hardcover of Stay was actually our dog Argo, and I took that photo of him when @duttonbooks couldn’t find the perfect photo of a black German Shepherd. #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram
Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard to be a creative person in the world, and the blessing, the salvation, the joy of it is the community around art: the writers who will call an emergency novel Zoom meeting when you’re stuck on a draft, the ones who roll up their sleeves and make sure your words are saying what you intend to say, the one who writes an interview to promote your book in the local paper, the reader who captures pictures of the event and makes a reel, the bookstore saints who plan a meal based on the story and serve blue and yellow cupcakes and sing happy birthday to your book on launch day, the readers who show up and get books signed and ask great questions and tell stories about their lives. That’s book magic. And thanks to @townecenterbks (especially Judy and Stacey although I know there are bookstore saints behind the scenes too) and @reneewritesnovels and @woolfmania and @cassandra.a.dunn and @lindalattelessons @aneedleinmybookstack and everyone who showed up to Read it and Eat, I will never ever forget the pub day for Home of the American Circus. You all made it so special. Thank you! I love you. I’m so grateful to be part of the community of writers and readers. ❤️🐘
@deborahblakeauthor RIGHT BACK AT YOU! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on the grid tomorrow! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for your support! 😘😘😘 #homeoftheamericancircus
Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home o Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home of the American Circus! 

You know that classic bit of writing advice about how you’re supposed to write the book that scares you? Well, for a long time the thought of actually writing and sharing Home of the American Circus scared the heck out of me. I spent many many years collecting ideas for this book, terrified by the thought of how deep I’d have to dig to tell this story the right way. The book is firmly fiction, and the characters are all my imaginary friends, but the setting and themes are literally and figuratively close to home for me. Freya’s story isn’t mine, we have different life events and demographics, but I understand her sense of grief and loss and floundering and hope on a cellular level. And of all the characters I’ve ever written, the way her mind works is the closest to how I think and feel. It takes place in the town where I grew up. And I think when you read this book, you won’t know my life story, but you will know the tenor of my heart. I grew up as a kid with undiagnosed ADHD in a place where I didn’t fit, frantically trying to look normal, believing it was the only way anyone would love me. Always falling short, terrified of failure. And then in my early twenties, I dropped out of college and worked at a biker bar and made such a huge mess of my life that I was forced to build myself up again brick by brick—this time knowing that failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. That as long as you can find the strength to try again in one way or another, falling flat on your face is not the end of the world. And I learned that the only way to truly feel loved is to be yourself and see who’s up for loving you in your natural form. The people I keep taught me that. And even though it scared me, this was a book I needed to write, it’s the work I’m most proud of, with characters I love the most. So sharing it doesn’t feel like the end of the world at all. Just the end of the world where I have not shared this novel set in ny hometown with a character who has a heart like mine. #misheardlyrics #rem #homeoftheamericancircus #awkwardguitar #itstheendoftheworldasweknowitandifeelfine
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