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- Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times Bestselling author

"Beautifully written...a great book club pick!"
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A HAND TO HOLD IN DEEP WATER

Shawn's Debut Novel

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Willy Cherrymill and his stepdaughter Lacey are deeply bruised by a past brimming with unanswered questions. It’s been thirty years since May DuBerry, Willy’s young wife and Lacey’s mother, abandoned them both leaving Willy to raise Lacey alone. 

 

Lacey Cherrymill is smart, stubborn and focused. She’s also a single mother to a young daughter recently diagnosed with a devastating illness. The last thing she needs to think about right now is the betrayal that rocked her childhood. Reluctantly, she has returned to her rural beginnings, a former dairy farm in the Maryland countryside, and to Willy, a man steeped in his own disappointments and all the guilt that goes with them.  

 

Together they will pool their wobbly emotional resources to take care of Tasha, all the while trying to skirt the issue of May’s mysterious disappearance. But try as she might, Lacey can’t leave it alone. Just where is May DuBerry Cherrymill and why did she leave them, and how is it that they have never talked about the wreckage she left behind?

Washington Independent

“The beautifully written The Precious Jules forces readers to consider the burden of secrets, the consequences of actions, and the line between what one person wants but another truly needs."

About

Shawn Nocher

Shawn Nocher (pronounced “No-Shay”) is the author of the critically acclaimed novels A Hand to Hold in Deep Water and The Precious Jules. Her short stories and nonfiction articles have been published in SmokeLong Quarterly, Pithead Chapel, MoonPark Review, Writer’s Digest, and Electric Literature, among others. She teaches in the Master of Arts writing program at Johns Hopkins University, has given wings to two children, and lives with her husband and an assortment of sassy rescue animals in Baltimore, Maryland, where she writes in a room of her own, and I teach in the Masters of Writing program at Johns Hopkins University.

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HOST YOUR OWN BOOK CLUB

I love a book club. Seriously, I really do. I’d love to be a guest at your book club, either virtually or in person. I’m available for in-person book discussions in the Maryland, Virginia, Delaware area (but I’m also an enthusiastic traveler so don’t hesitate to ask if I’ll be in your area in the future). 

Contact Shawn

© 2025 Shawn Nocher

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