A Pleasant Fiction: A Novelistic Memoir (Bookstore Edition) (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781967093120)

2025 Readers' Favorite Book Award Winner (Fiction - Realistic) - Three Firebird International Book Awards (Most Likely to Make You Cry, Best Risk-Taker, Death & Dying)

Grief changes everything. So does friendship.

His family just died. So why is Calvin obsessing over his dishwasher, his pool, and a thousand other mundane details?

If you've ever suffered catastrophic loss, you already know - even if you don't realize that you do.

And if - or when - faith fails you, where do you go?

A Pleasant Fiction is a raw, emotionally intimate novelistic memoir about love, memory, and the uneven terrain of grief - where meaning is elusive and closure never comes cleanly. Told in nonlinear fragments, it balances emotional weight with moments of warmth, dark humor, and quiet insight.

Along the way, one quiet truth emerges: Forgive them. And forgive yourself.

The follow-up to The Wake of Expectations, this book stands alone as a resonant meditation on what it means to lose - and what it takes to keep going.

Review Praise

"A raw and beautifully fractured exploration of grief." - KC Finn, Indies Today

"For those who have loved and lost, it rings painfully and beautifully true." - Literary Titan

"This book doesn't just make you feel - it makes you recalibrate." - The International Review of Books (IRB)

"A poignant story about resilience, family, and the messy truths of grief." - Emily Omondi, Reedsy Discovery

"A raw and emotional exploration of familial loss, sacrifice, and unconditional love." - Doreen Chombu, Readers' Favorite

"A mesmerizing novel that powerfully illustrates how we carry fragments of our past." - Divine Zape, Readers' Favorite

"An evocative narrative exploring grief, identity, and the intricate web of memories that bind us." - Ruffina Oserio, Readers' Favorite