Now That I Know You by Heart: A Novel

Newly widowed Shelby Wright moves to San Juan Island in Washington to run the Captain Merrick Inn, fulfilling her late husband's dying wish. The inn, where they honeymooned twenty years earlier, offers Shelby a chance to start fresh and live independently, away from the Portland suburbs and her adult son. On the island, Shelby begins to acknowledge to herself that she is gay—an identity she has hidden for years. As she renovates and rebrands the inn, she meets Holly Caster, a winemaker whose connection to her prompts Shelby to confront both her emerging identity and her lingering feelings about her husband and a close friend she left behind. Shelby finds support in a local group of queer women called the San Juan Sisters. Through her work on the inn and her personal journey, she discovers love and purpose in unexpected ways.