Where Yesterday Lives

At thirty-one, Ellen Barrett has already won a Pulitzer prize. Sadly, though, her skill as a journalist far surpasses her ability to sort out her troubled past. When she returns to picturesque Petoskey, Michigan, for her beloved father’s funeral, it’s a traumatic emotional and spiritual journey for Ellen—a rediscovery of what is truly important and eternal.

Will facing her past tear

Ellen apart—or teach her what

is truly important in her life?

Ellen Barrett, thirty-one, is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist

with an uncertain marriage, a forgotten faith, and haunting memories

of her picturesque hometown and the love she left behind. The eldest

of five siblings, Ellen longs for the time, long ago, when they were

happy—when they were a family.



Then tragedy strikes. Now Ellen’s beloved father is dead, and she

must leave Miami and return to her childhood home on the shores of

Little Traverse Bay in Petoskey, Michigan.



As she returns to a world that was, an avalanche of memories is

unleashed. And so Ellen’s quest begins—a quest to make peace with the

people who still live there, with the losses and changes that time

has wrought, and with the future God has set before her.

Story Behind the Book

“Each of my novels is a piece of my heart. Where Yesterday Lives was my first-ever novel, and as such it is somewhat autobiographical. The childhood story of Ellen Barrett, her love for her parents and siblings, is my story—though her current story and struggles are fictional. On Every Side sheds light on the struggle for religious freedom in today’s climate; something I am passionate about. Finally, When Joy Came to Stay is the story of one woman’s battle against depression and the secrets of her past.” —Karen Kingsbury