EMMA'S life wasn't supposed to be like this. She was a high school valedictorian, then a Princeton grad, now an English professor-and so what if she's just an adjunct? But her marriage has blown up and she has to make a living somewhere, so she's moved home with her son to central Pennsylvania, where things have changed. Her mom died during the pandemic and her dad's living in a tent with dementia. Her son Thomas, whose dad is Pakistani, doesn't fit in. When Emma's asked to help create a list of diverse books for their school district, her life intersects with other unforgettable local characters. She dates the college baseball coach, a lifelong underachiever whose older brother is the firebrand school board president; she befriends the one sensible school board member whose lesbian daughter is struggling to come out; she endures the lonely school principal who might have a crush on her; and she encounters the young local reporter who gets thrust into a national news story: The school board bans the books.