Erin Soderberg Downing


  • Home
  • About Erin
  • Erin's Books
  • School Visits
  • Great Peach Experiment
  • Controlled Burn
  • Just Keep Walking
  • What Happened Then
  • Puppy Pirates
  • Book Recommendations
  • Contact
  • On Writing / Interviews
  • Just Like Home


Watch the book trailer

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

Avery is a firecracker. In a crayon box of colors, she’s the shocking pink and laser lemon, when all she wants is to be a quiet tan or soft cornflower blue. Jax is a wall flower, because sometimes it’s better to stay quiet when the alternative is to be told that you’re doing or saying everything wrong. Avery and Jax’s extended family haven't spoken to each other for years. Until now...

When their beloved Aunt Robbie summons the large, estranged family together for a gathering at their broken-down family cabin on Crooked Lake, cousins Avery and Jax seem to be the only ones who don’t know what happened years ago that shattered this family. But instead of learning the answer, everyone is about to get a horrible surprise: Aunt Robbie has been diagnosed with ALS, and by the end of the summer, the island that’s been a part of their family for generations must go up for sale.
As Avery and Jax begin to dig through decades worth of history in the long-abandoned house, they also begin to dredge up diary pages that their aunt once scattered around the island as a kid, the summer that tore their family apart.
In this alternating narrative by bestselling author Erin Soderberg Downing, two cousins who have finally begun to discover the joy of family - however cracked and imperfect theirs might be - long to unravel the mystery of what happened then, with the hope that they might also be able to figure out how to glue their broken family back together again.


More Info
Add on goodreads
Listen to the first chapters
Read the first chapter

Please consider ordering from an Indie Bookseller - If you don't have an indie near you, you can search for bookstores near a place you love through Bookshop.org. But if you already have a local favorite, please support them and the great work they do in our communities!


order from Bookshop.org
order from B&N
order from Amazon
order from Target

"A Virtuoso Trio Connects then and Now with gratifyingly healing results."
- Starred Review, School Library Journal

“This cross between a mystery, family drama, and coming-of-age story is believable, insightful, and well paced, with genuine dialogue...A compelling summer mystery, with emotional depth and life lessons to boot." - Kirkus Reviews

"Soderberg Downing utilizes alternating first-person perspectives to craft a relatable and realistic drama.” - Publisher’s Weekly

"”Get ready for a smart, fun, sharply-written, page-turning heart-clencher of a story.”– Natalie Lloyd, Bestselling author of HumminGbirD & The Witching Wind



In the summer of 2023, I was invited to teach writing to a group of teenage girls while living on a remote island on Rainy Lake in Northern Minnesota. While teaching on this island - sleeping alone in a tiny, ramshackle cabin, with one of my dogs for company - I wrote the first ten chapters of this novel.


Immersing myself in this rugged and natural setting helped kick off a writing journey that was so intense, so powerful, and - at times - so painful. I have never been more proud of a book than I am of WHAT HAPPENED THEN. This book is so much better than anything I ever could have imagined myself capable of writing. It's taught me to believe in myself, trust myself, and build confidence as a writer.


I can't wait to take you all to Crooked Lake for an unforgettable family summer.


ART CREDITS:
Great Peach Experiment Design/Art: Michelle Cunningham
Controlled Burn / Just Keep Walking/What Happened Then: Oriol Vidal
Just Like Home: Johanna Tarkela
Puppy Pirates Covers: Luz Tapia / Interiors: Russ Cox
Daring Dreamers Club: Anoosha Syed