The Seventh Ribbon

By: Gus Krieger

Narrated by: Erin DeWard

A moving, whimsical debut love story of ‘what if’ about a grieving widow who attempts to rewrite her past with magical typewriter ribbons to try to save her husband from his unfortunate fate, for readers of In Five Years and Me Before You.

"A wholly original tale of love, fate, and second (and third and fourth) chances that will leave your jaw on the floor. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.” —Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of Jane and Dan at the End of the World

Alone in her snowbound oceanfront cottage, Caroline Ora mourns the loss of her beloved husband Forest, killed earlier that year in a violent hit-and-run. Once a celebrated poet, Caroline now spends her days drowning in grief … until an unlikely discovery changes everything.

Buried deep in her attic in a dusty wooden case, Caroline finds several ancient typewriter ribbons. Spontaneously using one to write a story —a simple “what if” wherein her anguish has loosened its grip—Caroline wakes to find it’s miraculously come true.

Moment by moment, word by word, Caroline sets about rewriting her life, resurrecting her husband through ink and memories. But as the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur, Caroline learns that every wish has its cost, and every miracle has its reckoning.

Riveting, funny and heartbreaking by turns, The Seventh Ribbon is an inventive and unforgettable love story.

Critic reviews

"The Seventh Ribbon is one of those rare novels that feels less written than discovered, as if it’d been waiting in a dusty attic for the right reader to come along. Funny, heartbreaking, and wonderfully inventive, Gus Krieger's story explores grief, love, and the irresistible temptation of second chances."

—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

“The magnificent Gus Krieger has created a world of possibility and hope. Caroline Ora is grieving her husband–in this violet hour of pain, she decides to rewrite her life story on an ancient typewriter with magic ribbons. Fantastical, original and a balm for readers who seek healing and redemption between the pages of a book.”

—Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The View from Lake Como

“It takes a LOT for a book to surprise me and this one did in the very best way. A wholly original tale of love, fate, and second (and third and fourth) chances that will leave your jaw on the floor. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.”—Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of Jane and Dan at the End of the World

“In The Seventh Ribbon, Gus Krieger takes readers on an emotional journey into other possible lives, where the heaviest losses can be papered over, every choice has a ripple effect, and our deepest wishes can cost us everything. I devoured this smart, playful, mindbending read!”

—Matthew Sullivan, award-winning author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore