A Real Somebody

From author Deryn Collier comes a smart, charming postwar historical novel based on the true story of an aspiring writer who dares to dream big.

Montreal, 1947. To support her once-prosperous family, June Grant joins a steno pool in a prestigious advertising firm. For June, it’s hard to imagine having the kind of life her parents want—the kind of life her sister Daisy has, with a well-off husband and two precocious kids.

But Daisy might not be a picture-perfect housewife after all. As June makes her own waves in the advertising world, she probes a hidden side of her sister’s life.

June’s discoveries upend everything she thought she knew about her sister while challenging her own inner conflict about pursuing her dreams versus living up to expectations. Being a dutiful housewife might mean something else entirely.

Based on the true story of the author’s aunt, A Real Somebody charts the journey of a talented young writer who dares to break the conventions of her time during one pivotal season of her life.

Deryn Collier has dreamed of writing mystery novels since reading her first Nancy Drew in the second grade. She has written two previous novels: Confined Space, which was nominated for a Best First Novel Award by the Crime Writers of Canada, and Open Secret.

After moving to Montreal as a teenager, Collier instantly fell in love with the city, later graduating from McGill University. These days she lives in a small town in the mountains of British Columbia with her family, and though she has lived there for many years, she still considers Montreal to be home.

Collier enjoys gardening, sewing, and swimming year round in a glacier-fed lake and regularly overshares about these hobbies on Instagram. She writes a newsletter to her readers called The Aunt June Files, where she shares a behind-the-scenes look at her work and research in progress. Visit her website at www.deryncollier.com to subscribe.