When They Came Home

Although Edith longs to be a wife, her tiny town has few eligible men. But when soldiers returning from WWI come to work on her family’s farm, she meets Milton. They court, marry, and have two daughters, but slowly the horrors he endured while fighting begin to weigh on him. He falls into silence, develops a thousand-yard stare. In the decades that follow, challenged by precarious fortunes and facing down an indifferent government, Edith struggles to build a home for their daughters while fighting for Milton’s healing. When They Came Home is a haunting portrait of a marriage tested by war’s lingering effects and an example of how even the deepest traumas can be met by the patient powers of love.

After a career as a ballet dancer, Terri Lewis focused on writing. She is the author of Behold the Bird in Flight: A Novel of an
Abducted Queen, which was named one of the Washington Independent Review of Books' Favorite Books of 2025. Her third
novel will be published in March of 2027. She lives in Denver with her husband and two entertaining dogs. To learn more
about the author, and to see the family mementos which partially inspired the book, visit terrilewis1.com.

• Miami University Press Novella Prize 2025