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TYPORAMA
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TYPORAMA
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THE HALF LIFE
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ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF AN E-MAIL FROM DANIELLE PRIELIPP | SENIOR MARKETING DIRECTOR | SIMON & SCHUSTER AND THE PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE
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From the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever and The House Is on Fire, a novel set on a remote Italian island, about a navy wife’s reckoning with power, love, and the price of staying silent in the Atomic Age.
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July 14, 2026
Simon & Schuster
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PRAISE FOR THE HALF LIFE:
"Beautiful...Beanland combines an intricate plot with deep moral insights into a woman’s willingness to defy expectations for the sake of justice, and she captures the magical beauty of the island setting. It’s a propulsive tale of love, loyalty, and the power of self-discovery."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Rachel Beanland's largest and steamiest novel...A romantic maelstrom of struggle, politics, and perseverance."—Richmond Magazine
"A leisurely paced feminist coming-of-age story packed with details about a fascinating chapter in American naval history."—Library Journal
"A thoughtful coming-of-age story of one woman’s desire to live an authentic life."—Booklist
“A captivating, whip-smart novel about love, loyalty, and a woman torn between two lives. I utterly adored it.”—Clare Leslie Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country
"The Half Life is a page-turner. Historical in setting, but contemporary in emotional terrain, I felt immersed in the landscape of La Maddalena and in the lives of these characters from the very first page."—Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"I can’t remember the last time I was as fully immersed in a book as I was in Rachel Beanland’s forthcoming novel, The Half Life; an effortlessly readable story of a young Navy wife’s journey to a remote duty station on the island of La Maddalena in the Mediterranean, and the awakening she experiences while living there. Often funny, and always astute in its examination of the unavoidable complexities of relationships, I found it deeply moving and endlessly entertaining. I could not recommend it more highly."—Kevin Powers, bestselling author of The Yellow Birds
"Beanland has pulled some kind of magic trick with this novel—once I started reading, I couldn't stop. I was utterly transported to La Maddalena in the 1970s, and to the heart and mind of Eileen, a young woman navigating the dangerous waters of relationships bound by duty, power, and love. A gripping story of self-discovery that feels fresh and alive and utterly timeless, The Half Life is a masterful book. I genuinely lost sleep over it."—Simone Gorrindo, author of the Washington State Book finalist The Wives
"The glorious Rachel Beanland takes us to La Maddalena, a picturesque Italian island off the coast of Sardinia, through the lens of newly married Eileen Archer, a feisty and curious daughter of the American south. As Eileen throws herself into the experience of being a military wife, she soon challenges her perceptions, beliefs and ultimately, her role in a new marriage. The Half Life is a summer read with scope and heart."—Adriana Trigiani, author of The View from Lake Como
"The Half Life is a sexy tour-de-force fueled by one brave young woman who breaks all the rules and wins our hearts in the process. Beanland writes a heady and complex cast of hauntingly realized characters who not only offer an outpouring of both sizzling passions and stirring regrets, but bring new life to a lesser known period of American military history in Europe.”—Lauren Francis-Sharma, author of Casualties of Truth
"Beanland’s best yet—a novel packed with humor, emotion, and revelation. The Half Life is as sprawling and expansive as it is intimate and full of secrets. This is a book about losing and finding yourself and having the courage to choose who you will be in this world, written with language that elevates even the everyday moments in its sunbaked locale."—Brian Castleberry, author of The Californians and Nine Shiny Objects
"Rachel Beanland's largest and steamiest novel...A romantic maelstrom of struggle, politics, and perseverance."—Richmond Magazine
"A leisurely paced feminist coming-of-age story packed with details about a fascinating chapter in American naval history."—Library Journal
"A thoughtful coming-of-age story of one woman’s desire to live an authentic life."—Booklist
“A captivating, whip-smart novel about love, loyalty, and a woman torn between two lives. I utterly adored it.”—Clare Leslie Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country
"The Half Life is a page-turner. Historical in setting, but contemporary in emotional terrain, I felt immersed in the landscape of La Maddalena and in the lives of these characters from the very first page."—Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"I can’t remember the last time I was as fully immersed in a book as I was in Rachel Beanland’s forthcoming novel, The Half Life; an effortlessly readable story of a young Navy wife’s journey to a remote duty station on the island of La Maddalena in the Mediterranean, and the awakening she experiences while living there. Often funny, and always astute in its examination of the unavoidable complexities of relationships, I found it deeply moving and endlessly entertaining. I could not recommend it more highly."—Kevin Powers, bestselling author of The Yellow Birds
"Beanland has pulled some kind of magic trick with this novel—once I started reading, I couldn't stop. I was utterly transported to La Maddalena in the 1970s, and to the heart and mind of Eileen, a young woman navigating the dangerous waters of relationships bound by duty, power, and love. A gripping story of self-discovery that feels fresh and alive and utterly timeless, The Half Life is a masterful book. I genuinely lost sleep over it."—Simone Gorrindo, author of the Washington State Book finalist The Wives
"The glorious Rachel Beanland takes us to La Maddalena, a picturesque Italian island off the coast of Sardinia, through the lens of newly married Eileen Archer, a feisty and curious daughter of the American south. As Eileen throws herself into the experience of being a military wife, she soon challenges her perceptions, beliefs and ultimately, her role in a new marriage. The Half Life is a summer read with scope and heart."—Adriana Trigiani, author of The View from Lake Como
"The Half Life is a sexy tour-de-force fueled by one brave young woman who breaks all the rules and wins our hearts in the process. Beanland writes a heady and complex cast of hauntingly realized characters who not only offer an outpouring of both sizzling passions and stirring regrets, but bring new life to a lesser known period of American military history in Europe.”—Lauren Francis-Sharma, author of Casualties of Truth
"Beanland’s best yet—a novel packed with humor, emotion, and revelation. The Half Life is as sprawling and expansive as it is intimate and full of secrets. This is a book about losing and finding yourself and having the courage to choose who you will be in this world, written with language that elevates even the everyday moments in its sunbaked locale."—Brian Castleberry, author of The Californians and Nine Shiny Objects
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ABOUT THE HALF LIFE:
When twenty-three-year-old Eileen O’Malley meets charismatic naval officer Paul Archer in a Charleston department store, she doesn’t expect to fall so hard, so fast. But Paul is funny and ambitious, and soon, Eileen’s got a ring on her finger and is following him to the tiny, sun-drenched Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, where Paul will be heading up Radiological Controls aboard a submarine tender.
In La Maddalena, Eileen joins a makeshift community of Navy wives, who are hell-bent on making the island feel a little more like home. But for Eileen, whose brother died in Vietnam, home is a loaded word, and as she settles into life on the island—taking Italian lessons and learning to make culurgiones—she begins to love the place for all the ways it is not like where she comes from.
Still, it doesn’t take long for Eileen to be confronted with the complexities of being an American abroad. The decision to send nuclear-powered subs into the La Maddalena Archipelago was a contentious one, and the US government is doing whatever it can to ensure that the island—not to mention all of Italy—doesn’t go communist in the next election.
When Italian activists and scientists begin to sound the alarm about possible nuclear contamination in the water, the island erupts in a series of protests, made worse by the ongoing mishaps of the US Navy. Soon, Eileen’s marriage falters and her loyalties begin to shift as she is drawn into a web of secrets—and to a local journalist who forces her to imagine a life beyond the one she’s been handed.
Atmospheric, sexy, and quietly defiant, The Half Life is a story of love, complicity, and awakening—of one woman forced to choose between loyalty to her husband and country and to the Italian locals who show her the high cost of American exceptionalism.
In La Maddalena, Eileen joins a makeshift community of Navy wives, who are hell-bent on making the island feel a little more like home. But for Eileen, whose brother died in Vietnam, home is a loaded word, and as she settles into life on the island—taking Italian lessons and learning to make culurgiones—she begins to love the place for all the ways it is not like where she comes from.
Still, it doesn’t take long for Eileen to be confronted with the complexities of being an American abroad. The decision to send nuclear-powered subs into the La Maddalena Archipelago was a contentious one, and the US government is doing whatever it can to ensure that the island—not to mention all of Italy—doesn’t go communist in the next election.
When Italian activists and scientists begin to sound the alarm about possible nuclear contamination in the water, the island erupts in a series of protests, made worse by the ongoing mishaps of the US Navy. Soon, Eileen’s marriage falters and her loyalties begin to shift as she is drawn into a web of secrets—and to a local journalist who forces her to imagine a life beyond the one she’s been handed.
Atmospheric, sexy, and quietly defiant, The Half Life is a story of love, complicity, and awakening—of one woman forced to choose between loyalty to her husband and country and to the Italian locals who show her the high cost of American exceptionalism.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Photo Credit: Caroline Wimmer
Rachel Beanland is the author of The House Is on Fire and Florence Adler Swims Forever, which won the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction.
She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and earned her MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.
She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.
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