Lisa Tucker Books In Order

Novels

  1. The Song Reader (2003)
  2. Shout Down the Moon (2004)
  3. Once Upon a Day (2006)
  4. The Cure for Modern Life (2008)
  5. The Promised World (2009)
  6. The Winters in Bloom (2011)

Omnibus

  1. Cold Feet (2005)

Novellas

  1. Agoraphobics in Love (2011)

Novels Book Covers

Omnibus Book Covers

Novellas Book Covers

Lisa Tucker Books Overview

The Song Reader

She can hear the music in peoples’ souls.

Mary Beth and her younger sister Leeann are trying to support themselves in their small Southern hometown. So Mary Beth works to make ends meet by practicing her own unique talent: ‘song reading.’ By making sense of the song lyrics people have stuck in their heads, Mary Beth can help people make sense of their lives. In no time, Mary Beth’s readings have the entire town singing her praises, including the handsome scientist Ben, who falls hard for Mary Beth and her unearthly intuition.

What happens when she can’t make out the lyrics?

When Mary Beth reveals a long muted secret in the community, however, she turns off the music and gives up song reading for good. Soon everyone’s lives are out of tune: Leeann worries she’ll never graduate from high school, and Ben can’t conduct his experiments. Without Mary Beth’s music the town’s silence is louder than ever. Could it be that all the lyrics to all those foolish love songs really aren’t so foolish after all?

Shout Down the Moon

Her acclaimed debut, The Song Reader, won her praise as a ‘brilliant new literary talent’ The Albuquerque Tribune. Now, Lisa Tucker returns with a starkly lyrical novel of page turning intensity and rare emotional power. Patty Taylor can handle anything. So what if the guys in her band dismiss her as just a pretty face, hired by their manager to make them more popular? She’s already survived a bad childhood, a destructive teenage relationship, homelessness, and working twelve hour shifts washing dishes. Traveling with the band gives her a way to provide for Willie, the two year old son she adores. But on a hot summer day in Kentucky, when Willie’s father shows up outside her hotel room, newly paroled from prison and intent on having her and his son back, Patty begins a journey that will change her from a girl who can put up with anything to a woman with a voice that can bring the house down. Shout Down the Moon is about following dreams and overcoming obstacles, about finding your voice and becoming the hero of your own life. In Patty Taylor, Lisa Tucker has created an unlikely hero*ine, a gutsy girl with a wry sense of humor, whose life will depend on having the courage to trust in her big talent and even bigger heart.

Once Upon a Day

Dorothea’s father, like all good parents, wanted to keep his children safe. But unlike other parents, Charles O Brien believed the only way to do so was to leave everything behind, including his very successful life. In a rocky, desolate corner of New Mexico, on a thirty five acre estate he called the Sanctuary, Charles raised the children in complete isolation, with books and encyclopedias, records and a grand piano, but no television, computer, radio, or even a newspaper. Now, Dorothea, at twenty three, is leaving this place for the first time, in search of her missing brother and venturing into the world. Dorothea s search will turn into an odyssey of discovery, leading to the truth of her family s past and the terrifying day that changed her father forever. But Dorothea s journey will also introduce her to an unusual cast of characters, including a homeless girl from Missouri who becomes a jazz singer and a doctor turned cabdriver who has suffered his own losses. Together, they have a chance to make a discovery of a different kind: that though a heart can be broken by the tragic events of a day, a day can also bring a new chance at love and a deeper understanding of life s infinite possibilities.

The Cure for Modern Life

From Lisa Tucker, the critically acclaimed author of Once Upon a Day and The Song Reader, comes an extraordinary novel about the way we live now: the choices we make and the decisions we let life make for us.

Matthew and Amelia were once in love and planning to raise a family together, but a decade later, they have become professional enemies. To Amelia, who has dedicated her life to medical ethics, Matthew’s job as a high powered pharmaceutical executive has turned him into a heartless person who doesn’t care about anything but money. Now they’re kept in balance only by Matthew’s best and oldest friend, Ben, a rising science superstar and Amelia’s new boyfriend.

That balance begins to crumble one night when, coming home to his upscale Philadelphia loft, Matthew finds himself on a desolate bridge face to face with a boy screaming for help. Homeless for most of his life, ten year old Danny is as streetwise as he is world weary, and his desperation to save his three year old sister means he will do whatever it takes to get Matthew’s help. What follows is an escalating game of one upmanship between Matthew, Amelia, and Danny, as all three players struggle to defend what is most important to them and are ultimately forced to reconsider what they truly want.

Dazzlingly written with a riveting story that will resonate with readers everywhere, Lisa Tucker’s The Cure for Modern Life is a smart, humorous, big hearted novel about what it means in the twenty first century to be responsible, to care about other people, and to do the right thing.

The Promised World

Lisa Tucker captures the hidden heart of the modern family. In her widely acclaimed novels, she has established her unique gift for depicting the bewildering nature of love, the poignant quest to belong, and the deep desire for a place to call home. Now from the bestselling author of The Cure for Modern Life and Once Upon a Day comes a riveting story of suspense about a literature professor whose carefully constructed life is shattered after the death of her twin brother and the unraveling of the secret world they shared. On a March afternoon, while Lila Cole is working in her quiet office, her twin brother Billy points an unloaded rifle out of a hotel window, closing down a city block. ‘Suicide by police’ was obviously Billy’s intended result, but the aftermath of his death brings shock after shock for Lila when she discovers that her brilliant but troubled twin the person she revered and was closer to than anyone in the world was not only estranged from his wife, but also charged with endangering the life of his middle child and namesake, eight year old William. As Lila struggles to figure out what was truth and what was fiction in her brother’s complicated past, her job, her marriage, and even her sanity will be put at risk. And when the hidden meaning behind Billy’s stories comes to light, she will have to act before Billy’s children are destroyed by the same heartbreaking reality that shattered her protector and twin more than twenty years ago.A love song to the redemptive power ofbooks and stories, The Promised World is a mesmerizing tale of intimacy, betrayal, and lost innocence that will haunt readers long after they have turned the final page.

The Winters in Bloom

In bestselling author Lisa Tucker’s latest, a family discovers that it’s only when the walls between the present and past crumble that the future can bloom. Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be. They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, whom they love more than anything. Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn’t last that the life they created was destined to be disrupted. And on one perfectly average summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard. The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago. As the Winters embark on a journey of time and memory to find Michael, they will be forced to admit these suspicions, revealing secrets about themselves they’ve always kept hidden. But they will also have a chance to discover that it’s not too late to have the family they’ve dreamed of; that even if the world is full of risks, as long as they have hope, the future can bloom. Lyrical, wise, and witty, The Winters in Bloom is Lisa Tucker’s most optimistic work to date. This enchanting, life affirming story will charm readers and leave them full of wonder at the stubborn strength of the human heart.

Cold Feet

Say ‘I do’ to five surprising stories of women grappling with love and marriage and whether to walk down the aisle or run away. In Elise Juska’s ‘Perfect Weather for Driving,’ Megan and Joel’s sunset fender bender makes for a great drunken story at his friend’s wedding, but the reality is hardly romantic. Stuck in a New England hotel waiting for the verdict on their Volvo, the two are forced to take stock of their own damaged relationship and whether it’s too late to fix it. In Tara McCarthy’s ‘Losing California,’ engaged surfer Alison is convinced that Michael Madsen a member of her favorite band is her soul mate. Unfortunately, he’s not her fianc . So Alison flies to Nova Scotia, where Michael lives, because she’s either right or she’s wrong and she better find out before the wedding. The bride to be in Pamela Ribon’s ‘Sara King Goes Bad’ has always done the right thing but decides it’s important to know what it feels like to be reckless for once. And so two weeks before her wedding, she indulges in an unforgettable night of sex, drugs, and petty crime. In Heather Swain’s ‘The Happiest Day of Your Life,’ Annie and Ben plan a simple ceremony at an apple orchard. But when Annie loses perspective and everything that can go wrong does she’s forced to rethink why she wanted a wedding in the first place. The ‘Emily & Jules’ of Lisa Tucker’s story are two lonely people who meet on an online bulletin board for agoraphobics. But when Emily is invited to her estranged brother’s wedding and it’s clear across the country both she and Jules may be forced to change their ways. Will any of these hero*ines get to the church on time? Cozy up with Cold Feet and find out.

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