On Tour 10/15/26-11/29/26 “When They Came Home” by Terri Lewis

Release Date: May 5, 2026

About The Book:

Although Edith longs to be a wife, her tiny town has few eligible men. But when soldiers returning from WWI come to work on her family’s farm, she meets Milton. They court, marry, and have two daughters, but slowly the horrors he endured while fighting begin to weigh on him. He falls into silence, develops a thousand-yard stare. In the decades that follow, challenged by precarious fortunes and facing down an indifferent government, Edith struggles to build a home for their daughters while fighting for Milton’s healing.

About The Author:

After a career as a ballet dancer, Terri Lewis focused on writing. She is the author of Behold the Bird in Flight: A Novel of an Abducted

Queen, which was named one of the Washington Independent Review of Books’ Favorite Books of 2025. Her third novel will be published in March of 2027. She lives in Denver with her husband and two entertaining dogs. To learn more about the author, and to see the family mementos which partially inspired the book, visit terrilewis1.com.

Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terri.lewis1

Book Blurbs:

In Lewis’ postwar novel, the author draws from her family’s history to craft the story of Milton and Edith, and the narrative is both concise and full of detail. Whether depicting the battlefield or the Great Plains, the author excels at setting the scene and describing the emotional connections the characters have to places and to other people . . . A lean, powerful novel about war’s psychological aftermath.- KIRKUS REVIEWS

When They Came Home moves with the swift voracity of a Jean Echenoz story, threshing the stories of its characters in the way life would have threshed so many in their generation (and so many in our own): through war and poverty, love and madness, devotion and reunion. This is a story of common disaster and uncommon heroism. Edith and Milton cleave to one another as the years collect into decades, as the breath of life distills to a box of artifacts. Terri Lewis puts the first half of the 20th century in your pocket. History, in her telling, grows alive and vibrant.- JOHN COTTER, author of Under the Small Lights and Losing Music

This novella’s strength is its subtlety, its expansiveness, and its rootedness in details that are concrete, particular, and significant. This is a beautiful story, a slow and deliberate take on the ways youth and innocence get warped and sacrificed to harsh reality—whether that be a gregarious young man whose effervescence is warped by warfare or a young woman whose craving for love shows her how much love she has to give.—AMINA GAUTIER, author of The Best That You Can Do and Now We Will Be Happy | Final judge, 2025 Miami University Press Novella Prize

Bloggers On Tour:

Oct. 15th- Lindas Book Obsession https://www.facebook.com/lindasbookobsession/

Oct. 22nd– Book Princess of Cali https://www.instagram.com/bookprincessofcali

Oct. 26th- Books and Coffee MX https://instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx

Nov. 2nd- Tammy Reads https://instagram.com/tammyreads62

Nov. 3rd- Tiffany Vt4 https://instagram.com/tiffanyvt4

Nov. 11th -Reading On The Brink https://www.instagram.com/readingonthebrink

Nov. 13th- Marilyn Goncalves https://instagram.com/marilynjgon

Nov. 14th- Miss W Book Reviews https://instagram.com/misswbookreviews

Nov. 15th -Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading

Nov. 18th -Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding

Nov. 19th- CMT Loves Wine and Books https://instagram.com/cmtloveswineandbooks