The Long Way Home: A Hawkins Novel

By Sydney Skyler

Penny Pierce has always belonged to Hawkins.

She walks the same loop through the Commons every morning. She funds the arts quietly, supports the town without recognition, and moves through life with deliberate calm. Penny isn't lonely-she simply isn't looking.

Alice Ashford isn't looking either.

A visiting research fellow at the Braintrust, Alice lives by deadlines, footnotes, and a stubborn wind-up watch that always runs three minutes late. She's precise, incisive, and temporary-exactly the kind of person Penny Pierce should notice and then walk past.

Instead, Penny stops.

What begins as a shared bench and a disrupted routine becomes something neither woman planned for: attention. Choice. The slow realization that love doesn't always arrive with chaos-sometimes it waits patiently until you're ready to see it.

As Hawkins quietly watches, routines bend, timing shifts, and Penny discovers that choosing love doesn't mean abandoning who she's been-it means expanding it.

The Long Way Home is a lyrical, emotionally grounded sapphic romance about readiness, interruption, and the quiet courage it takes to stop walking past what's been waiting for you all along.

A tender, slow-burn love story featuring:

Two accomplished women choosing love without crisisLater-in-life romanceFound rhythm instead of forced conflictA town that notices everythingOne very opinionated dachshund in a sweater

Perfect for readers who love heartfelt lesbian romance, small-town intimacy, and stories where love is chosen-not rushed.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GCW4W6DP
• ISBN13: 9798241501783
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"