“You call a mulligan and try again.” That’s the advice Natalie gets from her best friend, Charlie, when her life hits rock bottom after the deaths of her husband and her father and a painful secret she’s been carrying threatens to tear apart her small town.TAKING THE LONG WAY HOME is a novel about life and death, the choices people make, and the possibility of second chances. When Natalie left her hometown in rural North Dakota at age eighteen, she had her high school sweetheart husband at her side and the world at her feet. Her life quickly changed. Due to the circumstances surrounding her husband’s tragic death, Natalie never had the courage to go back and face the people who knew her best. But now, at age twenty-eight, Natalie returns home for her father’s funeral where she is quickly surprised to find that no one there seems to know the truth about how her husband really died. Relieved, she decides to stay in North Dakota for the harvest, in order to help her brother save the family farm. But during her stay, Natalie learns she cannot escape her grief or the secrets and regrets in her life. She is forced to face the past and, most importantly, face the future. With the help of her childhood best friend, Natalie finds the strength to live and love again. And she learns that, just maybe, it is possible to call a ‘mulligan’ on life and try again.