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Overview
A heartbreaking, life-affirming new novel by Ethan Joella--author of the Read with Jenna Bonus Pick A Little Hope--about a young woman searching for answers about her brother's last days. June 1975. Maggie Bishop has just graduated high school, the future hers to embrace--but she's still reeling from the death of her older brother, Chip. A devastating diagnosis the summer before prompted Chip to leave home for a few months, never revealing where he went. Maggie's search for clues leads her to The Red Maple Inn, a mountaintop resort in the Poconos. At the Red Maple, Maggie is welcomed into a tight-knit community. As she unravels secrets about her brother's final days, she begins to connect with the people he loved, and whose lives he touched. Through the warmth of strangers, Maggie begins to heal and is able to help others cope with loss. Set in a nostalgic resort town over two transformative summers, this dual-narrative novel explores sibling relationships, coming of age, and the quiet power of human connection. Perfect for fans of emotional storytelling and small-town summer books, The Top of the World is a timeless story about memory, grief, second chances, and hope.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781668024621
- ISBN-10: 1668024624
- Publisher: Scribner Book Company
- Publish Date: June 2026
- Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.8 pounds
- Page Count: 272
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Though their heyday has passed, Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains once were billed as the "honeymoon capital of the world." In The Top of the World, his fourth novel, Ethan Joella has chosen that setting for an affecting story of two siblings dealing with the complexities of love and life in the shadow of premature death. Facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, and with nothing more than a note to his family to announce his plans, Chip Bishop leaves his Pennsylvania home after his 1974 high school graduation and lands a summer job at the Red Maple Inn and Cottages, a struggling couples resort in the Poconos. His experiences with his fellow employees in that too-brief season include a romance with a fellow employee and a complex friendship with a traumatized man, all of this framed by the tension between his zest for life and the knowledge that his remaining time is undeniably finite. A year later, Chip’s younger sister, Maggie, freshly graduated from high school and still grieving her brother's death the previous autumn, abruptly retraces his steps to the Red Maple, hoping that insight into his time there somehow can help her "outgrow this pain and sadness." Over the course of the summer she’s employed at the resort, she learns about the depth of her brother’s impact on its staff, and how he had shown the owner "what the living are supposed to do." Maggie comes to understand that Chip had "found something that was just his. It was his life, and he was allowed to decide." That discovery helps reconcile her to his loss, while simultaneously shining a light on the meaning of her own life. In addition to evocative scenes of languid days and warm nights lit by fireflies, Joella has created an appealing pair of characters in Chip and Maggie, who easily evoke empathy. The risk in any story like this one lies in crossing the line that separates genuine emotion from sentimentality. The Top of the World successfully avoids that mistake, leaving behind memories as vivid as the ones preserved in a cherished vacation snapshot.
Though their heyday has passed, Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains once were billed as the "honeymoon capital of the world." In The Top of the World, his fourth novel, Ethan Joella has chosen that setting for an affecting story of two siblings dealing with the complexities of love and life in the shadow of premature death. Facing a terminal cancer diagnosis, and with nothing more than a note to his family to announce his plans, Chip Bishop leaves his Pennsylvania home after his 1974 high school graduation and lands a summer job at the Red Maple Inn and Cottages, a struggling couples resort in the Poconos. His experiences with his fellow employees in that too-brief season include a romance with a fellow employee and a complex friendship with a traumatized man, all of this framed by the tension between his zest for life and the knowledge that his remaining time is undeniably finite. A year later, Chip’s younger sister, Maggie, freshly graduated from high school and still grieving her brother's death the previous autumn, abruptly retraces his steps to the Red Maple, hoping that insight into his time there somehow can help her "outgrow this pain and sadness." Over the course of the summer she’s employed at the resort, she learns about the depth of her brother’s impact on its staff, and how he had shown the owner "what the living are supposed to do." Maggie comes to understand that Chip had "found something that was just his. It was his life, and he was allowed to decide." That discovery helps reconcile her to his loss, while simultaneously shining a light on the meaning of her own life. In addition to evocative scenes of languid days and warm nights lit by fireflies, Joella has created an appealing pair of characters in Chip and Maggie, who easily evoke empathy. The risk in any story like this one lies in crossing the line that separates genuine emotion from sentimentality. The Top of the World successfully avoids that mistake, leaving behind memories as vivid as the ones preserved in a cherished vacation snapshot.