The Great Wherever

Named a Best Book of 2026 by Esquire Named a Most Anticipated Book of Summer 2026 by NPR, People, Oprah Daily, Harper's Bazaar, Town and 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 and heartbroken woman inherits her father’s share of a Tennessee farm that is rich in family secrets and occupied with busybody ghosts in this sweeping family portrait. At thirty-two, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling through adulthood. An underpaid gig worker in Washington, DC, she’s grieving the end of a serious relationship and the recent loss of her father. When Aubrey learns she has inherited his stake in a sizable Tennessee farm she sees an opportunity to get out of the city—and to erase a mounting pile of debt. Watching her arrival with great interest are four ghosts—Aubrey’s ancestors, who’ve staked their own claims to the farm and who never hesitate to pass judgment on the mistakes made by the living, whether romantic, financial, or sartorial. As Aubrey reconnects with her living family, another story unfolds in parallel: the history of the land, beginning with its purchase by Thomas, Aubrey’s great-grandfather and one of the first Black landowners in his community. Though Thomas hopes to give his children a homestead on which they could flourish, the land proves to be a burdensome inheritance. Over the years, it turns the Lambs against one another, culminating in a catastrophic tragedy that splinters the family and echoes through the decades. Now, as the clock ticks on a potential sale of the farm, the ghosts fear expulsion from the…