My Kind of People: A Novel

by Lisa Duffy Narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Nancy Linari, Madeleine Maby, David Sadzin

Overview

From the author of The Salt House and This Is Home comes a profound novel about the power of community and a small town's long-buried secrets as a group of New England islanders come together for a recently orphaned girl.

On Ichabod Island, a jagged strip of land thirteen miles off the coast of Massachusetts, ten-year-old Sky becomes an orphan for the second time after a tragic accident claims the lives of her adoptive parents.

Grieving the death of his best friends, Leo's life is turned upside down when he finds himself the guardian of young Sky. Back on the island and struggling to balance his new responsibilities and his marriage to his husband, Leo is supported by a powerful community of neighbors, many of them harboring secrets of their own.

Maggie, who helps with Sky's childcare, has hit a breaking point with her police chief husband, who becomes embroiled in a local scandal. Her best friend Agnes, the island busybody, invites Sky's estranged grandmother to stay for the summer, straining already precarious relationships. Their neighbor Joe struggles with whether to tell all was not well in Sky's house in the months leading up to the accident. And among them all is a mysterious woman, drawn to Ichabod to fulfill a dying wish.

Perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Leary, My Kind of People is a riveting, impassioned novel about the resilience of community and what connects us all in the face of tragedy.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Lisa Duffy’s My Kind of People will fill you with hope and a renewed sense of resilience, which we could all use a bit more of right now.”
—PopSugar

"Big Little Lies meets Celeste Ng!"
—Motherly

"My Kind of People is a powerful, endearing story about the life-altering moments that can shatter our reality—and the lengths the people who love us will go to put us back together. This multi-generational tale shows off Lisa Duffy’s true talent for capturing voice and making her readers feel every emotion right along with her characters. This is the perfect story for book clubs and best friends to read together. Lisa Duffy’s writing positively shines."
—Kristy Woodson Harvey, bestselling author of Slightly South of Simple

"There's a beautiful thing that happens, as if by magic, midway through every Lisa Duffy novel: I blink awake to the world around me and realize I've been transported, transformed, and utterly invested in the lives of characters who feel like friends. My Kind of People is indeed filled with *my* kind of people: layered, conflicted, underestimated souls who are deeply impacted by one another as their lives intersect and entwine. A moving story of healing, resilience, and every imaginable type of love—between neighbors, parents, spouses, surrogates, and new and old friends—finding a way."
—Jessica Strawser, bestselling author of Not That I Could Tell

“Duffy’s story is sweet but never cloying, and she’s unafraid to depict uncomfortable circumstances as the tale unfolds. My Kind of People is an emotionally complex tale that leaves some threads dangling—much like life—but still comes to a satisfying and hopeful conclusion.”
—BookPage

“The secrets and scandals are realistic, avoiding over-the-top drama in favor of thoughtful, poignant stories from a grieving community. Fans of Emilie Richards and Patti Callahan Henry will be drawn to this heartwarming tale.”
—Booklist

"Lisa Duffy writes with wisdom and empathy about an endearingly authentic cast of characters. In disarmingly spare prose, she tells a moving story about family, marriage, and community, and the challenge of knowing when to break ties and when to come together. Don't let the summery island setting fool you - this is a beach read with substance and heart."
—Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party

"Authentic characters resonate throughout this engrossing novel. . . . Intensely real and deeply emotional, Duffy’s rich novel is worth savoring from the very first page."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A beautifully drawn portrait of a motherless girl and a rudderless woman both trying to find their place in the world— but who find each other instead. Lisa Duffy nails the complexities of modern relationships, and proves that she’s a storyteller that’s here to stay.”
—Colleen Oakley, author of Close Enough to Touch and Before I Go

"Lisa Duffy’s latest novel, a story of joy and struggle in a coastal New England town, is full of engaging characters you’ll remember long after you turn the final page. This Is Home reveals the truth of human nature, which seeks to heal and forgive those we love, even when they break our hearts."
—Sandi Ward, author of Something Worth Saving

“Duffy's latest is a novel of family, friendship, and the meaning of home... Also touching on such topics as post-traumatic stress disorder, military service, and addiction, This Is Home makes a great addition to any family life or women's fiction collection.”
—Booklist

"Lisa Duffy’s beautiful novel delves into that most elemental of themes—home—with insight and grace. This is a book to savor."
—Kimmery Martin, author of The Queen of Hearts

"This phenomenal novel reveals such unique and endearing characters struggling through upheaval and loss in order to forge the true shape of their family. They face each day with humor, grit, and vulnerability that draws the reader in. Libby, Quinn, Bent, and even the world’s smelliest dog rush to life on these pages and have carved out a place for themselves forever in my imagination. Building on her emotional debut novel, this book solidifies Duffy as a master of writing hope into heartbreak."
—Devin Murphy, national bestselling author of The Boat Runner and Tiny Americans

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177234427
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	05/12/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1 1
In the hours before dawn, she slips out of the house and runs. She knows the way by heart, even though she’s only ten, and the land swells around her like the mother’s bosom she never knew.

She follows the path that winds near the cliff, the edge nipping at her feet, threatening to swallow her whole. Spit her out on the rocky shore below.

She left the men sleeping.

Xavier passed out on the couch, but Leo roamed the house all night, as though he knew she might leave. Even stood over her bed once while she pretended to sleep, her back to him, his shadow on the wall looming through her half-lidded eyes.

When she finally heard his breathing, slow and deep from the other room, she left. Silently and swiftly, even though the night was soundless and black. She was good at that. Disappearing in the cracks between light and sound.

The wind licks her ankles. Spray from the water below clings to her hair, coats her legs and arms in the icy Atlantic.

She pauses on the cliff above the ocean. Her foot tingles, ready to step. But the night grips her body, presses against her until she’s flattened, as though she’s a leaf pressed between pages, the darkness sandwiching her in place.

She thought it would be easy.

Simple even. To step into nothing. To sail off the earth just like her parents had done, the wind taking her breath, filling the emptiness inside her body.

But Ichabod Island won’t let her.

When her toes touch the edge of the granite rock, the island stirs. The trees bend. The wind howls and the ocean roars and the lighthouse glares until she turns and runs, her feet pounding the dirt path through the woods.

When the sun finds her later in a wooden house high in the trees, safely away from the cliff, sound asleep on a bed of feathers, she doesn’t stir. She doesn’t feel the day rise above her. The cloudless sky peering down with its bright yellow eye.

She sleeps soundly. On her own. Just like she should be. Just like she came into the world.

Nobody knows she’s gone. The men don’t know she ran away. When they find out, they’ll ask why. Over and over, they’ll ask why.

She won’t have an answer. She never does.

She’s not even sure there is one.

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