Cicada Summer, Paperback

In this moving, witty novel, author Maureen Leurck explores the intricacies and joys of renovation and rediscovery--as one woman's improvement project promises to transform much more than a home . . . People keep a house alive, not the other way around. Alex Proctor has seen the truth of this in every empty, rundown property she's bought and renovated since her divorce almost three years ago. She's also experienced the thrill of making each one into a home. Her newest project is a dilapidated, century-old house just a few blocks from Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. Time and neglect, along with rats and raccoons, have ravaged it inside and out. Only Alex can see the beauty of what it once was and might become again. In just a few weeks--by the time the cicadas make their scheduled reappearance after seventeen years underground--the house should be ready to sell. In the meantime, there are construction disasters, and surprises, to contend with. Amid overgrown grounds and rooms brimming with debris, Alex finds treasures--pocket doors, hardwood floors hidden beneath layers of linoleum and grime--and carved initials that reveal a long-ago love story involving Alex's elderly neighbor, Elsie, and another cicada summer. At the same time, Alex finds herself searching for a way to reconcile her new life with lingering feelings for her ex-husband. For so long she felt sure that moving on was the only option, but maybe this house, and everything she's learning in it, could give Alex room for a second chance . . . "A captivating novel about the power of redemption." --Jen Lancaster, New York Times bestselling author