The Breakdown Lane

An advice columnist and mother searches for vanished husband in this dramatic novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean.

An advice columnist for a Wisconsin newspaper, Julieanne Gillis dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was amiss in her own home. Devoted to being a good mother and keeping her twenty-year marriage fresh and exciting, she is shocked by her husband’s surprise announcement that he needs a “sabbatical” from their life together—and devastated when he disappears, leaving Julie with no funds to raise two teenagers and a small daughter alone. But it is the discovery Julieanne suffers from a serious illness that truly crumbles her family’s foundation—setting her children on a dangerous, quixotic journey to locate their missing father before it’s too late.

Praise for The Breakdown Lane

“Rousing melodrama; fluid, often funny, dialogue; and the convincing portrayal of children involved in the collapse of a marriage add up to another page-turner from Mitchard.” —Publishers Weekly

“An astute observer of family dynamics, Mitchard renders her characters flawlessly, endowing them with a humanity that is both accessibly grounded and astonishingly deep.” —Booklist

“A compelling mix of suspense, humor, and abiding humanity.” —Boston Globe

“A novel you will read once, then again and again.” —Tulsa World