Come Back, I Love You

On the shores of a vast and ancient lake stands a tiny cottage where Franny Hale once raised her children over a century ago. Now, the cottage has been sold to a woman seeking a simpler life, but Franny remains, tipping paintings, chilling the air, pushing papers to the floor, and appearing again and again, shadowy, restless, and wanting. The narrator-- whose name remains a mystery-- shares her own memories and reflections, weaving together fragments of the past that are both surprising and ordinary. As summer unfolds and the days grow shorter, the ghostly presence of Franny begins to fade, leaving behind questions of what remains after the story seems to conclude. Come Back, I Love You (A Ghost Story) invites readers to explore the intertwining of memory and existence, revealing that every narrative, filled with tragedy or triumph, may not truly end. Is a final breath or sigh the end, or merely a transition into something new? This haunting tale challenges the boundaries of life and legacy, bidding contemplation on what lingers in the spaces we leave behind.

Kathleen Novak is the author of 2017 Minnesota Book Award finalist Do Not Find Me and its companion, The Autobiography of Corrine Bernard, A Novel, selected as a semifinalist for the Chautauqua Prize in 2019. Her historical novel, Steel, won the 2023 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for best fiction, and her poetry has been published by national literary presses, including Gargoyle, California Quarterly and Water-Stone Review.