What Happened to the McCrays?: A Novel

by Tracey Lange

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Tracey Lange, a poignant story about the resilience of family, the importance of community, and the magic of middle school hockey

When Kyle McCray gets word his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York, where he doesn’t expect a warm welcome. Kyle left suddenly two and a half years ago, abandoning people who depended on him: his father, his employees, his friends—not to mention Casey, his wife of sixteen years and a beloved teacher in town. He plans to lie low and help his dad recuperate until he can leave again, especially after Casey makes it clear she wants him gone.

The longer he’s home, the more Kyle understands the impact his departure has had on the people he left behind. When he’s presented with an opportunity for redemption as the coach of the floundering middle school hockey team, he begins to find compassion in unexpected places. Kyle even considers staying in Potsdam, but that’s only possible if he and Casey can come to some kind of peace with each other.

Full of love and hope, What Happened to the McCrays? takes an intimate look at both sides of a failed marriage and two people who must finally confront the awful pain of their past or risk being consumed by it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250328441
Publisher:	Celadon Books
Publication date:	01/14/2025
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	343
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Tracey Lange was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in psychology before owning and operating a behavioral healthcare company with her husband for fifteen years. She completed the Stanford University online novel writing program, and is the author of We Are the Brennans and The Connellys of County Down. She currently lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband, two sons, and beloved German Shepherd.

Editorial Reviews

09/02/2024

In Lange’s touching latest (after The Connellys of County Down), auto mechanic Kyle McCray flies back to Potsdam, N.Y., from Spokane, Wash., after his father has a stroke. His ex-wife, Casey, whom he’s still in love with, lives across the street from his father’s house, and he feels sad and angry to learn another mechanic has been working on her ’84 Bronco. The discovery forces him to come to terms with another man in her life, even though her relationship with the mechanic isn’t romantic. Casey, a teacher who’s been emotionally withdrawn from others since the events leading to Kyle’s departure, appears to be wrestling with unresolved feelings as well. A former ice hockey star, Kyle agrees to coach the embattled junior hockey team at Casey’s school, a setting that offers a path toward redemption and also brings up painful memories. The novel’s emotional range is impressive, particularly the slow-burn rekindling between its two leads, and snowy, close-knit Potsdam comes to life. Readers in search of a perceptive and rewarding family drama need look no further. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Susanna Lea Assoc. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"The novel’s emotional range is impressive, particularly the slow-burn rekindling between its two leads, and snowy, close-knit Potsdam comes to life. Readers in search of a perceptive and rewarding family drama need look no further."

—Publishers Weekly

“Lange's characters are memorable, and their struggles feel epic yet real.”

–Booklist

From the Publisher

2024-11-09
Two divorced people with tragic secrets try to find their way back to each other, with an assist from hockey.

Casey and Kyle McCray’s marriage seemed like storybook material. They began as childhood friends in Potsdam, New York, moved on to a teenage romance, and married young. For 21 years, they saw themselves as a solid team. But as this novel opens, they’re on opposite ends of the country—Kyle has fled all the way to Spokane, where he’s working as a mechanic—and scarred by a bitter divorce two years earlier. When Kyle learns that his father, Danny, a retired firefighter, has suffered a stroke, he reluctantly goes home to help care for him. Kyle knows he can’t avoid seeing Casey—she’s Danny’s neighbor and main caretaker. At first the two keep their distance, but soon, Casey, a middle school teacher who helps run the hockey team, turns to Kyle for help coaching the kids. He was a high school hockey star, and the game was always a bond in their relationship. Even more than the present tension between them, the plot is driven by the slow, skillful revelation of what shattered their marriage in the first place. Unfortunately, the story gets bogged down in snowbanks of extraneous description—everything from the outfits and hairstyles of minor characters to the color of a dog’s license tag, not to mention an avalanche of middle school hockey minutiae. The novel delves into the limitations of small-town lives set on their tracks early, such as that of Casey’s brother, Wyatt. Seriously injured as a child in the car crash that killed their father, he uses a wheelchair and has forged a career doing custom woodwork. Even though he longs to move to a city, he still lives with his sister, an arrangement that’s held him back more than protected him. The unfolding of Casey and Kyle’s secrets keeps the story interesting, although an anti-feminist subtext that emerges may disturb some readers.

Deft plotting is undermined by overdone description in this hockey-heavy domestic drama.

Kirkus Reviews