Day 49: The Missing Final Chapter of The Year of Fog

Now available as an ebook: the never-before-published original ending of THE YEAR OF FOG. (ISBN 978-1-4524-9639-9)

Spoiler alert: Do not sample this ebook unless you have already read THE YEAR OF FOG!

A note from Michelle: A few weeks before THE YEAR OF FOG went to press, I found myself agonizing over the ending . Was I saying too much? Too little? Should I tie up all the loose ends, or should I go with a more open-ended approach? After much deliberation, I decided to leave Chapter 82 on the editing room floor. I had never set out to write a traditional mystery or police procedural, but rather a book about relationships, guilt, and memory. My choice to cut Chapter 82 from the final version of the book was an attempt to honor this original intent. My hope was that readers would continue to think about Abby and Emma after the last page was turned, and that they would would form their own conclusions about the future of the novel’s heroine.

Since The Year of Fog was published in 2007, I’ve been fortunate to receive thousands of emails from readers, many of whom keep coming back to the same questions. I hope that Chapter 82 will satisfy their curiosity. For those who have asked if a sequel is in the works, I will say that, although I haven’t yet set pen to paper, I do find that Abby and Emma still haunt me. One day, I may yet return to the characters of The Year of Fog.

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and speaking with dozens of book clubs in the past couple of years. One question is invariably asked at some point in the evening: where did you get the idea for The Year of Fog? In this ebook, you’ll also find a short essay entitled “Girl on the Beach,” which explains how a chance encounter with a young girl on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach nearly a decade ago inspired The Year of Fog.