Endearingly quirky…Emotional yet funny…Confronting grief, change, and a new way of being, Nyhan’s lovely story captures the rejuvenating power of hard work that can start right in the backyard.” —Publishers Weekly
“Charming…Nyhan has fun with a bubbly satire of business culture.” —Kirkus Reviews
“On the surface, this is a sweet novel about aging, grief, and redemption. But Nyhan (All the Good Parts, 2016), who has experienced loss herself, shares very insightful observations. She reminds readers that comfort and hope can come in the most unexpected encounters if the heart is open.” —Booklist
“For the two years since her husband’s death, Paige has been concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other…Nyhan uses details from her own personal tragedy to harness the pain, tenderness, and empowerment of Paige’s transformation in Digging In.” —Associated Press
“A warm story of new beginnings and getting over loss…This is a powerful and uplifting story.” —Parkersburg News and Sentinel
“Full of life, vitality, and humor, the messy side of life, the things that aren’t pretty…Wise, witty, and affecting.” —Novelgossip
“[Loretta Nyhan’s] novels are emotional for sure, but they still manage to deal with tough themes in an upbeat and hilarious way…By the end of the book, you’re left in a place of healthy, hopeful bliss, a place only Nyhan could take us to.” —The Suspense is Thrilling Me
“This is a vision of love, hope, and pressing onward even when it doesn’t seem possible…Highly recommended.” –USA Today’s Happy Ever After
“A compelling blend of grief, humor, and change, Digging In by Loretta Nyhan is an impressively original and entertaining read from cover to cover.” —Midwest Book Review
“Nyhan has done it again! Her characters captivate and her gift for vivid prose shines in this roller coaster of a tale. My hope is that it leaps from the page to the big screen! Any reader with a heart won’t want it to end!” —Nicole Waggoner, author of Center Ring and The Act
“I want to scream my love for this book from the rooftops. What a delightful, funny, authentic, wise story about the healing power of gardening and the struggle to root yourself in the untilled land of grief. With a full cast of unique characters, Digging In is a must-read for anyone seeking pure entertainment.” —Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of The Perfect Son
“I loved this one! Tender and sweet and hilarious. Packed full of wise moments, with a fresh take on what it is to experience grief. The characters seemed so lifelike I caught myself considering Googling one of them to see what she was up to in her life now! Hilarious take on split-generation offices—hipsters vs the shoulder pad brigade. Recommend this read to anyone.” —Virginia Franken, author of Life After Coffee
“Digging In is the loveliest novel. The title is perfect—a metaphor for digging deep. It is the story of a woman who has been brought to her knees by the loss of her husband, the love of her life. Now absolutely everything is on the line, her job, her relationship with her teenage son, and her will to live, hangs in the balance. The unique and surprising—even to her—ways she recovers had me turning the pages, and yet I wanted to linger. In her own inimitable warm, witty, and compassionate style, Loretta Nyhan has written a wise and poignant story of recovery from grief. I loved this book.” —Barbara Taylor Sissel, author of The Truth We Bury and Faultlines
2018-01-23
A suburban Chicago woman whose husband died two years ago, and who's spent 17 years working at a now faltering advertising agency, digs herself out of her grief by tearing up her backyard—to the horror of her neighbors—and planting it with an odd assortment of wilting tomatoes, herbs, and blackberries.Paige Moresco, who narrates this semiromantic novel with sly wit, is dealing with a teenage son at least as torn by grief as she is and with the recent death of her old-school boss, "Big Frank." Big Frank has been replaced by his upwardly mobile son, Frankie Jr., who has not only renamed himself Lukas, but has christened Giacomo Advertising and Design "G"—pronounced, he insists, "Guh." Nyhan (All the Good Parts, 2016, etc.) has fun with a bubbly satire of business culture. Lukas wholeheartedly adopts the unusual philosophy espoused by the winsome British author of The Petra Principles for the New, New Creative Workplace and insists that his increasingly reluctant employees read and reread key passages from the (fictional) tome, which Nyhan quotes with delight. Nyhan nicely differentiates the six employees, including Paige's longtime co-worker Jackie, whose fashion sense is firmly stuck in the 1990s. Outside the office, Paige expands her social circle to include a dental school dropout who runs a booth at a local farmers market, a crotchety neighbor with some hidden redeeming qualities, and a new love interest, a sensitive cop with a welcome sense of humor and a talent for canning tomatoes. With a plot which revolves largely around Lukas' desire to get rid of at least two employees, Nyhan keeps the wheels spinning and eventually finds the best in each of her characters.A charming if perhaps unrealistically upbeat story of recovery from grief.
