Author event! Courtney Preiss with Mara Wilson

We're thrilled to host Courtney Preiss as she celebrates the launch of her debut novel, WELCOME HOME, CAROLINE KLINE. Courtney will be joined in conversation by Mara Wilson!

About the book:

A debut novel sparkling with wit and insight about a young woman whose reluctant return to her Jersey Shore hometown gives her the second chance she didn’t know she needed.

Caroline Kline isn’t ready to strike out.

In New York City, newly single Caroline is stumbling her way through the recent implosion of her life. After a surprise breakup leaves her with no job, no apartment, and no backup plan, she’s unsure of what to do next. That is, until Caroline’s father, Leo, injures himself in a bad fall and asks her to move home to the Jersey Shore suburb she’d always been desperate to escape. But Leo doesn’t want his daughter to be his caretaker; he needs her to replace him as third baseman in his local men’s softball league. This isn’t just any season, Leo claims. This is the year they have a real shot at the World Series, the pride and joy of Glen Brook, New Jersey.

Caroline agrees to move home, concerned that Leo is hiding a more serious health condition than he’s willing to admit. As the first female player in a league full of old-school men, she’s up against more than a few challenges. And when a night gone wrong lands her in the path of her hometown crush—and first love—Caroline struggles to reconcile the life she thought she’d have with the life she might actually want.

Sharply observed and full of humor and heart, Welcome Home, Caroline Kline is a touching tribute to the many unconventional paths that victory, and recovery, can take.

About the speakers:

Courtney Preiss was born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey off the same Highway 9 Bruce Springsteen sings about on “Born to Run.” She graduated from Emerson College with a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. She lives in Asbury Park, NJ with her husband and their rescue dog, Barry. Welcome Home, Caroline Kline is her first novel.

Mara Wilson, known for her childhood roles in Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, is a writer, actor, and award-winning narrator living in Los Angeles. More recently, she has appeared on Welcome to Night Vale, Broad City, and Bojack Horseman. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Elle, McSweeney’s, Reductress, and many other outlets. She also publishes a newsletter of her writing with Substack, ‘Shan’t We Tell the Vicar?” Mara’s most recent books, Good Girls Don’t, is exclusively available on Scribd as an ebook and audiobook. Her first book, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame is available from Penguin Random House. Mara was recently honored with an Earphones Award from AudioFile for her narration of Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy.

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