"Eve is at a breaking point. Alone with her two children while her husband pursues his music career in New York City, she's frustrated, bored, and above all, lonely when she runs into Demeter, a childhood friend with whom she shared one transformative summer. Demeter is as beautiful and charismatic as Eve remembers, but she's also distraught. Demeter's daughter is unable to tolerate sunlight, and no doctors believe that the girl's illness, which comes to be known as Emily's Disease, is real. But Eve believes it's real, and the captivating, reborn friendship revives her and gives her purpose: She will help Demeter-if she can just figure out how. Demeter's daughter isn't the only one with this strange condition. A clandestine search for its cause-and its cure-brings together an unlikely group of allies: a widowed librarian with an eye for puzzles, an actor trying to make up for past mistakes, a hermit botanist, an aging climate activist, and the local paper's most notorious letter writer. As Emily's Disease spreads, Eve becomes more and more obsessed with finding the cure that might stop it. Her search brings unexpected connections and a vitality she didn't think possible, but it also sparks conflict with Demeter and even threatens her own family. Determined to help everyone she loves, Eve learns that when disaster hits, we can't go back to the way things were before, but together we can build what we need to move forward. The Emilys is a book about how love of all kinds-love between friends, between mothers and kids, between strangers and neighbors, love for the earth-opens up new possibilities. It's love that answers the questions: How will we learn to live in an altered world? How will we keep each other safe? And where, in the midst of struggle, will we find joy?"-- Provided by publisher.