Graceland

By Nancy Crochiere

A Paperback Original

Perfect for readers of Jennifer Weiner, Maria Semple, and Allison Pearson, Nancy Crochiere delivers a big-hearted, funny, and fast-paced debut novel that follows three generations of women at odds with one another on a road-trip chase from Boston to Memphis.

Quiet, introverted Hope Robinson has never been able to please her flamboyant soap-star mother, Olivia Grant. So when the ailing and Elvis-obsessed Olivia insists Hope take her to Graceland one last time before she dies, Hope hates to disappoint—she simply has no choice. Hope fled Memphis eighteen years ago with a secret…not to mention a signed agreement promising never to return.

Olivia, though, won’t take no for an answer. The plot-hatching and scene-stealing actress is determined to force her daughter back to Memphis to face the secrets and lies that she believes are driving a wedge between Hope and her own teenage daughter, Dylan. Plus, Olivia has a little reason of her own for the trip: the actress plans a career-capping PR stunt in Elvis’s bedroom at Graceland.

Olivia wrangles Dylan, a pink-haired LGBTQ-activist, into driving her to Tennessee in her ancient VW Beetle by promising her that in Memphis, she can finally meet her mystery father. Once Hope realizes where her mother and daughter have disappeared to, she is forced to follow. With the help of her cross-dressing cousin and best friend, Jordan, Hope must stop the duo before they uncover the extent of her lies, break the agreement that will bankrupt her family, and ignite a political and media circus.  

Along the way, as they encounter a memorable cast of characters—including Olivia’s ferret-owning co-star and a band of Elvis impersonating frat brothers—everyone’s long-held secrets begin to surface. In order to become the family they all long to be, Olivia, Hope, and Dylan must face hard truths about each other and themselves on the bumpy road to acceptance, forgiveness, and ultimately, grace.