Mary Kathleen Mehuron is a career educator who made a splash with her first book, Fading Past, an autobiographical novel whose protagonist, like Mary Kathleen, grew up Irish-Catholic in New Jersey. The Opposite of Never is Mary Kathleen’s second book, and to finish it, she traveled alone to Havana in January 2015 in order to experience the city before it became Americanized. Mary Kathleen lives and teaches in a ski town in Vermont where she and her husband raised three sons, she is an occasional contributor to the local newspaper, The Valley Reporter and writes curriculum daily for private students. She takes extended time to work on her novels on Grand Turk Island and in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

Holly Walker is happy, if occasionally a bit lonely, in the life she’s built on the island of Grand Turk. She and her grown son, Byron, have built a thriving business there together, and the slow pace of life “on island” suits her well. But when a Category 5 hurricane is projected to make landfall on Grand Turk and Lord Anthony Bascombe, a fellow who routinely chalks up his bad behavior to the fact he is descended from pirates, her mostly predictable life is turned entirely upside-down.

After the hurricane passes, Holly finds herself separated from her grown son, Byron, and his father, Montez—her unrequited love of more than twenty years. Unable to contact them, and unsure if they’re even alive, she is undone. Will she ever see them again? And what about all the others on the island who may be hurt, or even dying? To survive the storm’s aftermath, Holly will have to draw on her own strength—and open herself to the possibility that what she once wanted and what she wants now may be two very different things.

Life is mostly a mixed bag.

Devastated when they lose their spouses, both Kenny Simmons and Georgia Best carry on for the sake of their children, although they are certain that the best part of their lives is long over. Then Georgia and her lifelong companions, Linda and Yvonne, meet Kenny while walking down a dusty Vermont country road, and the four of them hit it off. Soon, Kenny becomes a regular part of their hiking group, and he and Georgia grow more than fond of each other.

Kenny’s stepdaughter, Zelda, and Yvonne’s teenage son, Spencer, also fall in love—at first sight. Through surprisingly relatable circumstances, they are drawn into opiate use, shocking everyone, and the two of them struggle through the torment of addiction together.

In an impulsive and daring attempt to create a grand finale out of difficult times, Kenny takes Georgia off to vacation in Cuba just as it is opening up to Americans—and what they discover in the golden light of Old Havana is another startling surprise.