The Last Poem

A Novel

By: Courtney Peppernell

Narrated by: Mara Wilson

From international bestselling author Courtney Peppernell comes The Last Poem, a heartfelt exploration of grief that follows celebrated poet Wren Paisley as she escapes to a new town where no one knows the life she is running from as she hopes to grieve the unexpected loss of her fiancée, find healing, and maybe even learn to love again.

Bestselling poet B.W. Paisley is grief-stricken and lost when her sun-kissed life is turned upside down by the unexpected loss of her fiancée Lucy, in a fatal car crash that left a young bystander paralyzed. Unable to escape the media frenzy that swarms the brownstone they once shared, she drives across the country until she hits Everston, Colorado, a town she's never visited but feels unexplainably pulled to. Everston is charming, the people are kind, and, most importantly, no one knows who she is. Deciding to start anew, she changes her name, cuts her hair, and takes up residence in a crumbling old Victorian house, determined to renovate both the house and herself from the ground up.

It feels fortuitous – and a little dangerous – when she learns that the local library holds a weekly grief support group that reads, of all things, poetry. Hesitantly, she joins and slowly begins to build community with the other members, including Henry, a librarian mourning the loss of his brother, Emerson; a young woman recovering from a traumatic accident; and Olivia, a grieving reporter who gives her butterflies. Finally, she can breathe again.

But not for long.

As she grows closer to new friends and a possible new love, her past comes barreling back into focus. How long can she keep her old life in the rearview? Will she be able to build a new life in Everston, or will it all come crashing down when the truth finally comes to light?