Hazel Says No (Original)

*A Today Best Upcoming Book*
*An ABA Indie Next Pick*
*A Spotify “Best Book of the Year So Far”*
*an RJ Julia Best Book of 2025 So Far*

“A joy to read.”–Lilith

“Jessica Berger Gross has created one of contemporary fiction’s great new families.”–Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding

When a tight-knit family moves from Brooklyn to Maine, their lives are upended by an event that will alter their new community forever in this “exuberant and big-hearted” (Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney) debut for fans of Sandwich, Pineapple Street, and Schitt’s Creek

When Hazel Blum’s father gets a tenured job at a prestigious college, she and her family relocate from Brooklyn to a middle-of-nowhere town in Maine. With her mother, Claire, a clothing designer, and her father, Gus, an American Studies professor, Hazel and her eleven-year-old brother, Wolf, slowly acclimate to their new lives and connect with the town’s sprawling community. That is, until a dramatic fallout on the very first day of her senior year tips the fickle balance of idyllic Riverburg and impacts everyone in her family.

Tracking through the perspectives of each member of the Blum family, this relatable fish-out-of-water story handles big issues with great empathy and humor, capturing the love that unites one unforgettable family and the essence of life in small-town Maine. Emotionally deft, authentic, and compulsively readable, Hazel Says No is a debut novel not to be missed.