Good Things Come and Go

With an expert eye for light and shadow, Shapiro traces the contours of sorrow, regret, and the luminous moments of bliss we hold close. Poignant, redemptive, electrifying. - Catherine Chidgey

After the death of their young daughter, Penny Whittaker and Adam Riggs are struggling. Penny's lifelong dream of becoming a successful artist has stalled, and Riggs, battling an addiction to prescription painkillers, is coming to grips with the end of his glittering professional skateboarding career. When Penny is unexpectedly offered a chance to exhibit her work at an Auckland gallery, she accepts, despite her reservations.

At the same time, back in Auckland, Jamie Flannery suddenly finds himself out of work and out of options. To recuperate, he moves to his uncle's abandoned beach on the Coromandel, and when his childhood friend Riggs calls out of the blue, the three friends reunite.

At first, being together feels just like old times. But secrets from their shared past threaten their newfound peace, forcing them to reckon with their history and themselves.

A novel about friendship and betrayal, ambition and grief, Good Things Come and Go is also a study of homecoming and heartbreak, and an ode to the courage of taking risks no matter the consequences.