The Best Year of Our Lives: A Pandemic-Era Period Piece

Jack, Rhea, & Ken are three childhood friends standing at the edge of when young adult becomes just an adult, each turning thirty in the grip of a pandemic and political strife. Circumstance has brought them together for the first time in over a decade as they seek comfort in nostalgia. By all accounts they did exactly as they were supposed to -- each successful in their own way. The reaction they inspire though is far from a hero's welcome. The hometown no longer feels like the home they left, even if the same people and places are there.

Inspired by the 1947 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Best Year of Our Lives is a story of the human moments that follow generation-defining tragedies. A story of heroes in the process of beating their swords into plowshares. Set in the here and now, Scutz's literary debut paints a compelling and hopeful portrait of Heartland America in the midst of monumental social change. Her finger squarely on the pulse of a Millennial generation on the precipice of midlife.