A Town with Half the Lights On

For readers of J. Ryan Stradal and The Music of Bees comes a charming epistolary novel that reminds us that home is a place we should always fight for, no matter where that may be.

Welcome to Goodnight, Kansas.

Population: Many Kansans, three New Yorkers, and one chance to save the place they love most

With more wind chimes than residents, folks don't move to Goodnight when their lives are going well. That's why all eyes are on chef Sid Solvang and his family from the moment they turn down Emporia Road. After all, you don't get to crash and burn in New York and come out unscathed. Now, stuck in his wife's childhood home and determined to never cook again, Sid is desperate to find a way back to Brooklyn. 

Enter the fledgling May Day Diner, an iconic eatery under the threat of the wrecking ball. But as the Solvangs work to find their ticket out, they discover the truth of Goodnight. One of heart and tradition, of exploitation and greed, and of a town just trying to stay on the map with neighbors you would do anything to save.

Told in diary entries, town paper clippings, emails, school notes, and more, A Town with Half the Lights On is a heartwarming novel that navigates family secrets, corporate corruption, and the mythologies behind a wayward girl named Disco, to show one family how to find their way back home…wherever that may be.