Two Down: A Novel

TWO DOWN is an upmarket contemporary novel complete at 80,000 words. It combines the creative ambition and emotional depth of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin with the indie-music world energy of Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley.

Twenty-year-old Joy spent her life believing that her father had a unique gift: he could recognize what people needed to hear before they knew it themselves. As a talent scout for an independent record label, that instinct earned him a reputation for discovering emerging artists, and he convinced Joy that she possessed this gift too. 

When her father’s sudden death leaves the family buried in debt and their Brooklyn home headed toward foreclosure, Joy becomes determined to save everything and carry on her father's legacy.

She drops out of college and talks her way into an entry-level position working for her father’s former employer. On her first day she’s assigned Chris Christopher—an almost famous actor-turned-musician with extraordinary talent, a reputation for sabotaging every opportunity, and little reason to trust anyone. If Joy can recognize the artist hidden beneath Chris’s self-destructive reputation, she might save both her family home and prove her father was right about everything...including her. But when a devastating family secret shatters the legacy, she’s been chasing, Joy must decide whether honoring her father means preserving his work—or finding the courage to surpass it.

Told through dual perspectives, TWO DOWN explores ambition, authenticity, grief, and the uneasy relationship between talent, inspiration, timing, opportunity, and success. As Joy chases her father's legacy, she discovers that the greatest gift he left behind wasn’t his career, but his belief in her.