A roofing family’s bonds of loyalty are tested when they uncover a long-hidden secret at the heart of their blue-collar town.

A roofing family’s bonds of loyalty are tested when they uncover a long-hidden secret at the heart of their blue-collar town.

A roofing family’s bonds of loyalty are tested when they uncover a long-hidden secret at the heart of their blue-collar town --- from Amy Jo Burns, author of the critically acclaimed novel SHINER.

It’s 1990, and 17-year-old Marley West is blazing into the river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania. A perpetual loner, she seeks a place at someone’s table and a family of her own. The first thing she sees when she arrives in town is three men standing on a rooftop. Their silhouettes blot out the sun.

The Joseph brothers become Marley’s whole world before she can blink. Soon, she is young wife to one, The One Who Got Away to another, and adopted mother to them all. As their own mother fades away and their roofing business crumbles under the weight of their unwieldy father’s inflated ego, Marley steps in to shepherd these unruly men. Years later, an eerie discovery in the church attic causes old wounds to resurface, and suddenly the family’s survival hangs in the balance.

With Marley as their light, the Joseph brothers must decide whether they can save the family they’ve always known --- or whether together they can build something stronger in its place.

Warm, funny and deeply moving, YOU ONLY CALL WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE is an unforgettable showcase for Stephen McCauley’s distinctive voice and unique ability to create complex characters that jump off the page and straight into your heart.

Warm, funny and deeply moving, YOU ONLY CALL WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE is an unforgettable showcase for Stephen McCauley’s distinctive voice and unique ability to create complex characters that jump off the page and straight into your heart.

Is it ever okay to stop caring for others and start living for yourself?

After a lifetime of taking care of his impossible but irresistible sister and his cherished niece, Tom is ready to put himself first. An architect specializing in tiny houses, he finally has an opportunity to build his masterpiece --- “his last shot at leaving a footprint on the dying planet.” Assuming, that is, he can stick to his resolution to keep the demands of his needy family at bay.

Naturally, that’s when his phone rings. His niece, Cecily --- the real love of Tom’s life, as his boyfriend reminded him when moving out --- is embroiled in a Title IX investigation at the college where she teaches that threatens her career and relationship. And after decades of lying, his sister wants him to help her tell Cecily the real identity of her father.

Tom does what he’s always done --- answers the call. Thus begins a journey that will change everyone’s life and demonstrate the beauty or dysfunction (or both?) of the ties that bind families together and sometimes strangle them.

Warm, funny and deeply moving, YOU ONLY CALL WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE is an unforgettable showcase for Stephen McCauley’s distinctive voice and unique ability to create complex characters that jump off the page and straight into your heart.