Jessica Strawser’s latest novel, The Last Caretaker (Lake Union Publishing) is an empowering, harrowing story of a woman reeling from her divorce who takes a job as resident caretaker on a nature reserve — only to discover her new home doubles as a safe house for an underground network that helps women on the run from abusive men.
“The Last Caretaker is a timely, engaging tale about a woman who is pushed to her limits and chooses to risk her own safety to help others. It’s about a woman starting over, opening her heart to others and finding courage within herself that she didn’t know she had. It’s both page-turning and important, a type of story that makes you wonder what you would do in the same situation. And although it’s fiction, it is inspired by true stories of women everywhere,” writes editor Alicia Clancy.
The book is an Amazon First Reads book for November, which means it’s free on Kindle for Prime members. The Last Caretaker is also featured as a “hot new release” on a special episode of the Best Of Women's Fiction.
Strawser is the author of five other novels (Almost Missed You, Not That I Could Tell, Forget You Know Me, A Million Reasons Why andThe Next Think You Know).
She is editor-at-large at Writer’s Digest, where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade; a contributing editor at Career Authors; and a frequent speaker at writing conferences, book clubs and women's groups. Her career in publishing spans more than 20 years, and her work has appeared in The New York Times Modern Love, Publishers Weekly and other venues.
A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, she lives with her husband and two children in Cincinnati, where she was named 2019 Writer-in-Residence for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.