
A Town With Half the Lights on
A Novel
Sourcebooks · Print & ebook · April 22, 2025
THE INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER! ?For readers of J. Ryan Stradal and The Music of Bees (with a dash of FX's The Bear) comes a quirky and refreshing epistolary novel about a family of culture-shocked Brooklynites transplanted to Goodnight, Kansas and their fight for their unexpected lifeline: the legendary May Day Diner.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A quietly observant family novel with enough bite to keep the pages moving.
- Genres
- Epistolary Fiction, Small-Town Fiction, Family Life
- Published
- Sourcebooks, April 22, 2025
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
The Time Hop Coffee ShopPhaedra Patrick58% match
Kate & FridaKelsey Jaffer, Ines del Castillo63% match
Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly ExaggeratedJames Goodhand56% match
The Next ChapterCamille Kellogg55% match
Before I ForgetTory Henwood Hoen57% matchShares Family Life
One Last StopCasey McQuiston62% match
Happier Here With YouAmy Gail Hansen61% matchShares Family Life
The Road to Tender HeartsAnnie Hartnett60% match
For younger readers: Hattie Big Sky, Let Them Stare, I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
THE INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER! ?For readers of J. Ryan Stradal and The Music of Bees (with a dash of FX's The Bear) comes a quirky and refreshing epistolary novel about a family of culture-shocked Brooklynites transplanted to Goodnight, Kansas and their fight for their unexpected lifeline: the legendary May Day Diner. Welcome to Goodnight, Kansas.
Continue reading
Population: Many Kansans, three New Yorkers, and one chance to save the place they love most With more wind chimes than residents, folks don't move to Goodnight when their lives are going well. That's why all eyes are on chef Sid Solvang and his family from the moment they turn down Emporia Road to the dilapidated Victorian they inherited. While Sid searches for work and a way back to Brooklyn, his daughter searches for answers to the cryptic messages her grandfather left behind to save both her family and the town. But then Sid makes an impulsive purchase: the fledgling May Day Diner, an iconic eatery under the threat of the wrecking ball. As the Solvangs search for their ticket out, they discover the truth of Goodnight: one of heart and tradition, of exploitation and greed, and neighbors you would do anything to save. And the Solvangs must navigate all of it—plus a wayward girl named Disco, a host of rambunctious alpacas, and the corrupt factory sustaining the town—in order to find their way back home...wherever that may be. Told through diary entries, emails, school notes, and an anonymous town paper of the Lady Whistledown variety, A Town with Half the Lights On is a tender testament to the notions that home isn't just the place you live, family isn't just your relatives, and it's almost never easy to find the courage to do what's right.
Family Friction
A quietly observant family novel with enough bite to keep the pages moving.
Come here for
- family tensions with a domestic, literary edge
- an easy entry point for book-club conversation
Expect
- sibling friction and marriage strain
- a sustained, immersive read
Where it sits
| Epistolary Fiction | 76% |
|---|---|
| Small-Town Fiction | 64% |
| Family Life | 46% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Literary Fiction
- Epistolary Fiction
- Small-Town Fiction
- Authors
- Page Getz
- Publisher
- Sourcebooks
- Published
- April 22, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Literary Fiction