The Last Train To Yesterday

What would you do if the man you loved asked you to let him die alone?

June Reyes has been waiting for three years. Every day at 5:17 PM, she returns to Platform 7 at Union Station, buys a ticket to Millbrook she'll never use, and watches the train depart. She's looking for her fiancé Ethan Pierce, who vanished the morning of March 14th with only a text: "Taking 5 AM to Millbrook."

The police found nothing. Her family says to move on. But June can't stop waiting. Can't remove her engagement ring. Can't shake the certainty that Ethan is out there somewhere, trying to get back to her.

Then one evening, a stranger sits beside her.

Noah Park is a ghostwriter who specializes in documenting the final words of the dying. He's charming, patient, and seems to understand June's grief in a way no one else does. He makes her laugh. He makes her feel seen. Slowly, carefully, he helps her imagine a future beyond the station platform.

For the first time in three years, June starts to heal. She takes off her engagement ring. She stops buying unused tickets. She falls in love.

But Noah is hiding something. Something that will destroy everything June has believed about Ethan's disappearance. Something that will make the last four months feel like the cruelest manipulation imaginable.

Because Noah knows exactly what happened to Ethan Pierce. He was there when Ethan died. He watched June wait at that station for two years before deciding to intervene. And he's been carrying Ethan's manuscript—a detailed account of why he left—this entire time, waiting for June to be "ready" to learn the truth.

Now the private investigator June hired has uncovered Noah's connection to Ethan. The lies are unraveling. And June must decide: Can you forgive someone who manipulated your grief, even if they were trying to help? Can love built on lies ever become real? And is understanding someone's brokenness the same as excusing what they've done?

The Last Train to Yesterday is an achingly beautiful exploration of grief, manipulation, and redemption. It's about the impossible choices we make for the people we love. About learning that protection and cruelty can look identical. About discovering that sometimes the only way to honor the past is to finally, courageously, let it go.

This emotionally devastating novel will break your heart and put it back together differently. It's a story about waiting and moving forward, about lies that sound like truth and truths that feel like betrayal, about grief that transforms into something that might—just might—be hope.

Perfect for readers who loved:

•The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
•People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
•The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
•Normal People by Sally Rooney
•One Day in December by Josie Silver

Content note: This book deals with terminal illness, grief, complicated grief, and emotional manipulation. It contains detailed discussions of death and dying, as well as morally complex relationship dynamics.