The Great Wherever

Named a Most Anticipated Book of Summer 2026 by NPR, People, Oprah Daily, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country, Esquire, The New York Post, The Boston Globe, WGBH, Real Simple, The Root, Our Culture, Woman’s World, Publishers Weekly, Literary Hub, Modern Mrs. Darcy, BiblioLifestyle, and BookPage.

A July 2026 Book of the Month Club Pick

The dead are relentless gossips, or at least these dead are.

An impulsive, heartbroken woman inherits her father’s share of a Tennessee farm rich with family secrets—and occupied by a chorus of meddlesome ghosts—in this sweeping multigenerational family saga.

At 32, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling through adulthood. An underpaid gig worker in Washington, DC, she is grieving the end of a serious relationship and the recent death of her father. When Aubrey learns she has inherited his stake in a sizable Tennessee farm, she sees a chance to leave the city behind—and finally make a dent in her mounting debt.

Watching her arrival with great interest are four ghosts—Aubrey’s ancestors—who have staked their own claims to the farm and never hesitate to pass judgment on the mistakes of the living, whether romantic, financial, or sartorial.

As Aubrey reconnects with her living relatives, another story unfolds alongside hers: the history of the land itself, beginning with its purchase by Thomas, Aubrey’s great-grandfather and one of the first Black landowners in his community. Thomas hopes to create a homestead where his children can flourish, but over time the property becomes a burdensome inheritance, turning members of the Lamb family against one another and culminating in a devastating tragedy that reverberates across generations.

Now, with a potential sale of the farm looming, the ghosts fear being displaced from the home they have claimed as their own. Aubrey must decide how to balance the hopes, sacrifices, and burdens of her ancestors with the very real demands of her own future.

Expansive yet intimate, The Great Wherever is a family saga told with a wry, distinctly modern voice. It explores how we define ourselves through and against our families, how we carry on after loss, and how the past continues to live within us.