Kathleen M. Basi

Beauty is everywhere… even in life’s hardest moments.

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Kathleen M. Basi

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Novels

Ordinary women claiming their extraordinary.

Readers say...

“An emotionally complex story about reconciling love with loss, and the healing power of music…I loved every scene from the first to the last.” 

Barbara Claypole White

bestselling author of The Perfect Son and The Promise Between Us

“Basi’s exquisite, gut-wrenching debut is filled with loss, hope, and secrets that fans of Julianne Maclean’s A Curve in the Road will enjoy.”

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“I thought it was going to be an emotional read (and it is) but it also had me laughing out loud within the first few pages. This book has so much heart and warmth and music!”

Lynn Liao Butler

Author of The Tiger Mom’s Tale and Someone Else’s Life

“In a novel filled with music, heartbreak, and surprising laughter, Basi takes us on a journey that encompasses both unimaginable loss and the powerful resilience of the human heart. A book club must read.”

Kerry Anne King

bestselling author of Whisper Me This and Everything You Are

“A must read! Basi’s insights into the human experience make A Song for the Road an unforgettable journey. She introduces us to life, loss, love, and the resurgence of hope—she introduces us to ourselves. The beauty of her prose and this adventure will linger long after the last page.”

Katherine Reay

national best-selling author of The Printed Letter Bookshop

“A nuanced grief journey whose final moments will push [our heroine] to face the depths of her shame and loss—and, scarier, the love that may help her emerge stronger on the other side. A truly panoramic view of human frailty and resilience.”

Kathryn Craft

award-winning author of The Far End of Happy and The Art of Falling

“A heartachingly beautiful book about grief and guilt, family and friendship, love and loss. Readers will be swept awaywith the lyrical descriptions and charmed by the characters. I wanted to race through the book to see what happened at the same time that I wanted to savor every page.”

Orly Konig

author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach

“Lyrical prose propels this story about coming to terms with past choices and irreconcilable grief.  A great read for anyone who finds themselves mired in guilt and unable to move forward.”

Marie W. Watts

author of The Cause Lives: Warriors for Equal Rights

TRUST FALLS

A failed stage actress. A beleaguered pop star. Two cousins with nowhere else to go. And an unscrupulous developer, poised to bulldoze their rural sanctuary.

Charley Dupree’s family Christmas tree farm is everything to her: a place of beauty, a refuge from a world that has offered nothing but betrayal, and home to her mother Penny, her oldest friend Julian, and his cousin Mark, a former baseball star who might just be Charley’s soul mate, if she can learn to trust again. But with foreclosure looming, Charley is short on time and options—until a stroke of luck and an act of kindness bring acclaimed singer-songwriter Maya Santoro to her doorstep, seeking a secluded place to finish her overdue album.

But the more Charley tries to balance Maya’s demand for privacy with her fight to keep the farm afloat, the more her relationships suffer. And when a scheme that should be the farm’s ultimate saving grace goes catastrophically wrong, Charley must decide what matters most: her home, or those she shares it with.

Emotionally resonant and brimming with hope, Trust Falls is a story of friendship, found family, and claiming one’s place in the world.

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A SONG FOR THE ROAD​

Cheryl Strayed's Wild meets Katherine Center's How to Walk Away in Kathleen Basi's debut novel about an unconventional road trip and what it means to honor the ones we love.

A year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers. Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself.

When she receives an automated flower delivery from her husband, she completely unravels. Realizing she has to do something to break out of her rut, she starts cleaning out her family’s things. In the process, she stumbles across a road trip phone app that her computer whiz daughter was developing for her. Miriam decides chuck it all and head off into the great unknown. Armed with her husband’s guitar, her daughter’s cello, and her son’s unfinished piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker named Dicey, whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter and forces her to look harder at what she had rather than what she’s lost.

Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship… whether she’s prepared for it or not, Miriam’s world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she initially set out on this journey, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.

Hopeful, honest, and tender, A Song for the Road is about courage, vulnerability, and forgiveness, even of yourself, when it really matters.

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