Jen Michalski’s ties to Baltimore run deep. Until she moved to Carlsbad, California, two years ago with her partner Phuong and their dog Myra Jane, she’d lived in Baltimore most of her life. A fixture on the local writing scene, she hosted two highly popular reading series, edited the Baltimore-themed anthology, City Sages: Baltimore, and founded the weekly online literary journal jmww. And even though that sounds like a full-time job right there, she actually works full-time and still manages to be a prolific writer. She’s authored three novels, a novella, three short story collections, and well over a hundred short stories and essays.
Jen’s latest novel, You’ll Be Fine, is the story of 35-year-old Alex, who takes a leave from her job as a writer in Washington, D.C., to return home to the Eastern Shore after her mother, with whom she had a complicated relationship, dies of an accidental overdose. Waiting for Alex is her brother Owen, who has been living at home. Still smarting from a recent breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Alex is eager to find closure from an even older relationship—with her high-school love Juliette. Matters get complicated when Carolyn, editor of the local newspaper, begins to show more than professional interest in Alex, and Alex’s Aunt Johanna, who has transitioned to a woman, comes from Seattle and reveals a family secret.
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