Fly Away

( 72 )

Overview

Once, a long time ago, I walked down a night-darkened road called Firefly Lane, all alone, on the worst night of my life, and I found a kindred spirit. That was our beginning. More than thirty years ago. TullyandKate. You and me against the world. Best friends forever. But stories end, don’t they? You lose the people you love and you have to find a way to go on. . . .

 

Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a ...

See more details below
Hardcover
$17.01
BN.com price
(Save 39%)$27.99 List Price
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Other sellers (Hardcover)
  • All (23) from $13.99   
  • New (19) from $13.99   
  • Used (4) from $19.39   
Fly Away

Available on NOOK devices and apps  
  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK HD/HD+ Tablet
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for Windows 8 Tablet
  • NOOK for iOS
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK for Windows 8
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac
  • NOOK Study

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

NOOK Book (eBook)
$12.59
BN.com price
(Save 16%)$14.99 List Price

More About This Book

Overview

Once, a long time ago, I walked down a night-darkened road called Firefly Lane, all alone, on the worst night of my life, and I found a kindred spirit. That was our beginning. More than thirty years ago. TullyandKate. You and me against the world. Best friends forever. But stories end, don’t they? You lose the people you love and you have to find a way to go on. . . .

 

Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a painful past. She thinks she can overcome anything until her best friend, Kate Ryan, dies. Tully tries to fulfill her deathbed promise to Kate---to be there for Kate’s children---but Tully knows nothing about family or motherhood or taking care of people.

Sixteen-year-old Marah Ryan is devastated by her mother’s death. Her father, Johnny, strives to hold the family together, but even with his best efforts, Marah becomes unreachable in her grief. Nothing and no one seems to matter to her . . . until she falls in love with a young man who makes her smile again and leads her into his dangerous, shadowy world.

Dorothy Hart---the woman who once called herself Cloud---is at the center of Tully’s tragic past. She repeatedly abandoned her daughter, Tully, as a child, but now she comes back, drawn to her daughter’s side at a time when Tully is most alone. At long last, Dorothy must face her darkest fear: Only by revealing the ugly secrets of her past can she hope to become the mother her daughter needs.

A single, tragic choice and a middle-of-the-night phone call will bring these women together and set them on a poignant, powerful journey of redemption. Each has lost her way, and they will need each one another---and maybe a miracle---to transform their lives.

An emotionally complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, motherhood, loss, and new beginnings, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope, and where there is love, there is forgiveness. Told with her trademark powerful storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day.

 

Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Tully and Katie; Katie and Tully: Tully Hart and Kate Ryan first became friends in junior high, but at times they felt that they had been best friends from birth; so it was only natural that on her death bed, Kate asked Tully to take care of her teenage daughter and that Tully would unhesitatingly agree. But young Marah's devastation at her mother's death seemed even greater than Tully's grief and the older woman's faltering attempts to bring calm to the family sometimes seem only to agitate everyone more. Help then comes from an unexpected source: Dorothy Hart, the mother who repeatedly abandoned her daughter as a child. This extremely poignant novel by Kristin Hannah (Home Front; True Colors) is a standalone sequel to Firefly Lane.

Publishers Weekly
Prolific novelist Hannah revisits the characters, known to fans as “KateandTully,” of her bestselling Firefly Lane in this slow-paced but largely well-executed sequel. Tully Hart, the famous 50-year-old former host of the talk show The Girlfriend, isn’t dealing well with the recent death of her best friend Kate, whose daughter, Marah, has run away. Tully is Marah’s godmother, and Kate’s husband Johnny blames her for his daughter’s flight. With no one left to turn to, Tully runs her car into a cement block in a haze of booze and prescription drugs. In the hospital clinging to life, Tully faces her past and her pain, visits her dead friend, and decides whether or not life is worth living. Told in a shopworn form—turns and flashbacks from the perspectives of Marah, Johnny, and Tully—the plot is unnecessarily repetitive, at times bringing forward motion to a standstill, but fans will appreciate the depth of character as they wade toward a neatly tied-up and heart-warming denouement. Agent: Andrea Cirillo, the Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)
From the Publisher

“By reversing traditional expectations, Hannah (Night Road) calls attention to the modern female soldier and offers a compassionate, poignant look at the impact of war on family.” —Publishers Weekly on Home Front

“Home Front's heart-wrenching portrayal of one veteran’s trials points out how much training goes into preparing for war–and how little is done to teach returning soldiers how to be parents again.” —People Magazine

"A stirring, inspiring celebration of heroism in its many incarnations." —Family Circle on Home Front

"Hannah's best work yet." —Seattle Times on Home Front

Kirkus Reviews
Hannah's sequel to Firefly Lane (2008) demonstrates that those who ignore family history are often condemned to repeat it. When we last left Kate and Tully, the best friends portrayed in Firefly Lane, the friendship was on rocky ground. Now Kate has died of cancer, and Tully, whose once-stellar TV talk show career is in free fall, is wracked with guilt over her failure to be there for Kate until her very last days. Kate's death has cemented the distrust between her husband, Johnny, and daughter Marah, who expresses her grief by cutting herself and dropping out of college to hang out with goth poet Paxton. Told mostly in flashbacks by Tully, Johnny, Marah and Tully's long-estranged mother, Dorothy, aka Cloud, the story piles up disasters like the derailment of a high-speed train. Increasingly addicted to prescription sedatives and alcohol, Tully crashes her car and now hovers near death, attended by Kate's spirit, as the other characters gather to see what their shortsightedness has wrought. We learn that Tully had tried to parent Marah after her father no longer could. Her hard-drinking decline was triggered by Johnny's anger at her for keeping Marah and Paxton's liaison secret. Johnny realizes that he only exacerbated Marah's depression by uprooting the family from their Seattle home. Unexpectedly, Cloud, who rebuffed Tully's every attempt to reconcile, also appears at her daughter's bedside. Sixty-nine years old and finally sober, Cloud details for the first time the abusive childhood, complete with commitments to mental hospitals and electroshock treatments, that led to her life as a junkie lowlife and punching bag for trailer-trash men. Although powerful, Cloud's largely peripheral story deflects focus away from the main conflict, as if Hannah was loath to tackle the intractable thicket in which she mired her main characters. Unrelenting gloom relieved only occasionally by wrenching trauma; somehow, though, Hannah's storytelling chops keep the pages turning even as readers begin to resent being drawn into this masochistic morass.
Library Journal
Hannah's enthralling and touching sequel to Firefly Lane continues the tale of Tully and Kate's poignant friendship and the journey they still share even in death. Once Kate dies, her husband, Johnny, her daughter Marah, and her soul-sister Tully all fall apart as they struggle to deal with their loss and regret. Losing the only anchor she had, Tully counts on Johnny and the kids to help each other through this process, only to realize that she is shut out, leaving her to mourn alone. Tully quickly finds herself following in her mother's footsteps of addiction, ultimately ending up in a medically induced coma after an "accident." In this state Tully is guided and prodded by Kate to see where things have gone right, where they've gone wrong, and where they can be repaired with some healing and some forgiveness—especially if Tully is willing to face her own past and that of her mother, and not fly away with Kate. VERDICT A moving read about mothers and daughters, families, friends, second chances, love, heartbreak, faith, grieving, and healing. Tissues required.—Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780312577216
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Publication date: 4/23/2013
  • Pages: 416
  • Sales rank: 14
  • Product dimensions: 6.10 (w) x 9.80 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Kristin Hannah

KRISTIN HANNAH is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty novels. A former lawyer turned writer, she is the mother of one son and lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.
Read More Show Less

Read an Excerpt


One
 

September 2, 2010
10:14 P.M.
She felt a little woozy. It was nice, like being wrapped in a warm-from-the-dryer blanket. But when she came to, and saw where she was, it wasn’t so nice.
She was sitting in a restroom stall, slumped over, with tears drying on her cheeks. How long had she been here? She got slowly to her feet and left the bathroom, pushing her way through the theater’s crowded lobby, ignoring the judgmental looks cast her way by the beautiful people drinking champagne beneath a glittering nineteenth century chandelier. The movie must be over.
Outside, she kicked her ridiculous patent leather pumps into the shadows. In her expensive black nylons, she walked in the spitting rain down the dirty Seattle sidewalk toward home. It was only ten blocks or so. She could make it, and she’d never find a cab this time of night anyway.
As she approached Virginia Street, a bright pink MARTINI BAR sign caught her attention. A few people were clustered together outside the front door, smoking and talking beneath a protective overhang.
Even as she vowed to pass by, she found herself turning, reaching for the door, going inside. She slipped into the dark, crowded interior and headed straight for the long mahogany bar.
“What can I get for you?” asked a thin, artsy-looking man with hair the color of a tangerine and more hardware on his face than Sears carried in the nuts-and-bolts aisle.
“Tequila straight shot,” she said.
She drank the first shot and ordered another. The loud music comforted her. She drank the straight shot and swayed to the beat. All around her people were talking and laughing. It felt a little like she was a part of all that activity.
A man in an expensive Italian suit sidled up beside her. He was tall and obviously fit, with blond hair that had been carefully cut and styled. Banker, probably, or corporate lawyer. Too young for her, of course. He couldn’t be much past thirty-five. How long was he there, trolling for a date, looking for the best-looking woman in the room? One drink, two?
Finally, he turned to her. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew who she was, and that small recognition seduced her. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“I don’t know. Can you?” Was she slurring her words? That wasn’t good. And she couldn’t think clearly.
His gaze moved from her face, down to her breasts, and then back to her face. It was a look that stripped past any pretense. “I’d say a drink at the very least.”
“I don’t usually pick up strangers,” she lied. Lately, there were only strangers in her life. Everyone else, everyone who mattered, had forgotten about her. She could really feel that Xanax kicking in now, or was it the tequila?
He touched her chin, a jawline caress that made her shiver. There was a boldness in touching her; no one did that anymore. “I’m Troy,” he said.
She looked up into his blue eyes and felt the weight of her loneliness. When was the last time a man had wanted her?
“I’m Tully Hart,” she said.
“I know.”
He kissed her. He tasted sweet, of some kind of liquor, and of cigarettes. Or maybe pot. She wanted to lose herself in pure physical sensation, to dissolve like a bit of candy.
She wanted to forget everything that had gone wrong with her life, and how it was that she’d ended up in a place like this, alone in a sea of strangers.
“Kiss me again,” she said, hating the pathetic pleading she heard in her voice. It was how she’d sounded as a child, back when she’d been a little girl with her nose pressed to the window, waiting for her mother to return. What’s wrong with me? that little girl had asked anyone who would listen, but there had never been an answer. Tully reached out for him, pulling him close, but even as he kissed her and pressed his body into hers, she felt herself starting to cry, and when her tears started, there was no way to hold them back.
September 3, 2010
2:01 A.M.
Tully was the last person to leave the bar. The doors banged shut behind her; the neon sign hissed and clicked off. It was past two now; the Seattle streets were empty. Hushed.
As she made her way down the slick sidewalk, she was unsteady. A man had kissed her—a stranger—and she’d started to cry.
Pathetic. No wonder he’d backed away.
Rain pelted her, almost overwhelmed her. She thought about stopping, tilting her head back, and drinking it in until she drowned.
That wouldn’t be so bad.
It seemed to take hours to get home. At her condominium building, she pushed past the doorman without making eye contact.
In the elevator, she saw herself in the wall of mirrors.
Oh, God.
She looked terrible. Her auburn hair—in need of coloring—was a bird’s nest, and mascara ran like war paint down her cheeks.
The elevator doors opened and she stepped out into the hallway. Her balance was so off it took forever to get to her door, and four tries to get her key into the lock. By the time she opened the door, she was dizzy and her headache had come back.
Somewhere between the dining room and the living room, she banged into a side table and almost fell. Only a last-minute Hail Mary grab for the sofa saved her. She sank onto the thick, down-filled white cushion with a sigh. The table in front of her was piled high with mail. Bills and magazines.
She slumped back and closed her eyes, thinking what a mess her life had become.
“Damn you, Katie Ryan,” she whispered to the best friend who wasn’t there. This loneliness was unbearable. But her best friend was gone. Dead. That was what had started all of it. Losing Kate. How pitiful was that? Tully had begun to plummet at her best friend’s death and she hadn’t been able to pull out of the dive. “I need you.” Then she screamed it: “I need you!”
Silence.
She let her head fall forward. Did she fall asleep? Maybe …
When she opened her eyes again, she stared, bleary-eyed, at the pile of mail on her coffee table. Junk mail, mostly; catalogs and magazines she didn’t bother to read anymore. She started to look away, but a picture snagged her attention.
She frowned and leaned forward, pushing the mail aside to reveal a Star magazine that lay beneath the pile. There was a small photograph of her face in the upper right corner. Not a good picture, either. Not one to be proud of. Beneath it was written a single, terrible word.
Addict.
She grabbed the magazine in unsteady hands, opened it. Pages fanned one past another until there it was: her picture again.
It was a small story; not even a full page.
THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE RUMORS Aging isn’t easy for any woman in the public eye, but it may be proving especially difficult for Tully Hart, the ex-star of the once-phenom talk show The Girlfriend Hour. Ms. Hart’s goddaughter, Marah Ryan, contacted Star exclusively. Ms. Ryan, 20, confirms that the fifty-year-old Hart has been struggling lately with demons that she’s had all her life. In recent months, Hart has “gained an alarming amount of weight” and been abusing drugs and alcohol, according to Ms. Ryan …
“Oh, my God…”
Marah.
The betrayal hurt so badly she couldn’t breathe. She read the rest of the story and then let the magazine fall from her hands.
The pain she’d been holding at bay for months, years, roared to life, sucking her into the bleakest, loneliest place she’d ever been. For the first time, she couldn’t even imagine crawling out of this pit.
She staggered to her feet, her vision blurred by tears, and reached for her car keys.
She couldnt live like this anymore.

 
Copyright © 2013 by Kristin Hannah

Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 72 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(55)

4 Star

(8)

3 Star

(2)

2 Star

(4)

1 Star

(3)
See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 72 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 23 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    I loved this, even more than FIREFLY. Kristin Hannah's books are

    I loved this, even more than FIREFLY. Kristin Hannah's books are always tearjerkers,
    but this one adds the difficult depth by showing us characters who are trying to learn to move on
    after they have lost the one person who held them all together.  Brutally honest and complex.
    told without sentimentality, the story is presented in sections that are in different times, but handled
    with the skill of a master.  Different, unpredictable, brilliant, and uplifting. 

    8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Incredible¿highly recommended sequel

    Hannah has done a wonderful job finishing the TullyandKate story. I was literally counting down the days to purchase this and was not disappoints. Hannah revisits the greving family of Kate who are struggling to heal after the death of Kate. She also tells the heartbreaking story of Cloud who is Tully's mom, and the horrible childhood she had that led her to her addiction filled life. The author evenly balances out Marah's pain, Johnny's grief, Cloud's story, and Tully's devestation. Fans of the incredible friendship will enjoy the sequel. Though the first book will always be my favorite, the second was enjoyable as well. I am hoping for a third to finish up Tully, Marah, and Johnny!

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Great sequel to Firefly Lane

    Kristin has done an excellent job of writing about the lives of those we first met in Firefly Lane. She writes so well about how peoples lives were affected by others and how they surpassed and overcame their hardships. The story of Tully and Kate is a magical one. It is an emotional read.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Great book

    I love firefly lane and it always brought me to tears at the end every time I read it! Fly Away didnt give me as much if closure i needrd for the the family to be all back together. I.was.hoping Tulley would fall in love with johnny and go back to the picture perfect family.I absolutely love the story being told from different characters so at least they can each get their side in . I wish this book would have brought me to tears too

    People suffer from depression every day and this bookmay help those who feel.helpless and as the only person in the worldwith thesame problems .

    Itis definitely a wonderful book to read

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Wed Apr 24 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Beautiful (:

    This was as good or even better than firefly lane. It was moving and definitely tells a story. I thoroughly loved this book and i recommend it to you all.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted Sun Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Kristin Hannah doesn't again with Fly Away. I loved Firefly Lan

    Kristin Hannah doesn't again with Fly Away. I loved Firefly Lane from the first moment I started reading. It is one of the few books that actually made me cry while reading it. Fly Away is the follow up that talks about life after Kate's death. It talks about the struggles Marah has dealing with her mother's death, and Tully's struggles dealing with the mother that was never there(I can really relate to Tully in that sense). I also like the glimpse into Johnny's heart from his perspective. I always doubted that he truly loved Kate *for* Kate and just settled for her because he couldn't have Tully. Thank you Kristin for putting that to rest. The only thing that would have made the book perfect is that under the dates, the person was listed. I found myself having to go back a few times to figure out which character was speaking. Hey Kristin, how about a book in the future dealing with the twins?

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Sun Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Memorable

    This is an amazing book. I never wanted to put it down. The way the story is so heart warming that tears begin to fall. It was beautiful story. That is why Kristen Hannah is my favorite author. I highly recommend this book as well as Firefly Lane. The adventures and life changing things that occur in these books allows you to not take family, friendship and love for granted.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Thu Apr 25 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    TOUCHING STORY!!!!!!!

    I loved this book jist like I loved the prequel "Firefly Lane". Kristen Hannah is my favorite author and I have loved all her books. This one did not disappoint!!!!!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted Wed Apr 24 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    I absolutely love Firefly Lane and you would not believe the tho

    I absolutely love Firefly Lane and you would not believe the thoughts that ran through my head as I anxiously waited for the release of Fly Away. Obviously there were many directions Kristan Hannnah could have gone with this book and I was completely blown away with the story she told. This is a book you want to share with everyone. I want to tell absolutely everyone just how absolutely wonderful this book was. It's a gift that you've never expected and a book that will stay with you long after you have read the last word. I am in awe of Kristan's talent to tell a story that was so emotional, so intimate and so fulfilling that you can not stop reading until you've reached the very end. This a book that will stay with you long after the last word has been read and will have a prominent spot on my keeper shelf. Every once I will take it down, sit down in my favorite chair, open to that first page and loose myself in the story all over again.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Wed Apr 24 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Depressing,

    I was disappointed in this one.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    A Perfect Ending

    Kristin Hannah once again reaches deep inside and pulls on your emotions. Grab your box of tissues and read the rest of the story from Firefly Lane.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Loved it

    This book was excellent, just like firefly i never wanted it to end.....but i must disagree having tully end up with johnny would be so tasteless and would make it seem likehis life with kate meant nothing.. he helped tully cause he knew thats what kate would want ..so glad marah camearound as wellad cloud ...i love all characters..wanted to fast forward to see if johnny found love again....

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    THIS BOOK IS EXTREMELY GAY

    Or maybe lesbian.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    ?

    Ygjbn w ybt y uttgbygjy

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    I wasn't impressed with this book. It was not as good as most of

    I wasn't impressed with this book. It was not as good as most of her books. It felt forced to me, almost like she wrote it because so many people asked for a follow up. 

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Tue Apr 30 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Best book ever

    Amazing

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Mon Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    This i off da chang

    Wow this book is off the chain

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Mon Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    very good book

    This book is a quick read but there is a lot of emotion

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Mon Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Awesome

    Great follow up to Firefly Lane!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted Mon Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2013

    Great

    Great book

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 72 Customer Reviews
If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)