Windfall

Jennifer E. Smith

This romantic story of hope, chance, and change from the author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is one Jenny Han says is filled with all of her «favorite things», Morgan Matson calls «something wonderful», and Stephanie Perkins says «is rich with the intensity of real love». Alice doesn’t believe in luck — at least not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his 18th birthday — just when it seems they might be on the brink of something — she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant everything changes.

At first it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall. As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined...and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.