emma riva

Lance Miller and Ellen Kostopoulou don’t have much in common, but they’re both awake between two and five in the morning. Lance spends his nights biking the Lehigh Valley roads as a Postmates delivery guy to make ends meet with a broken-down car, and dreams of being able to share the pride he feels in his Jewish identity with somebody else in overwhelmingly goyische Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. Ellen is an overworked insomniac who feeds into her own depression by believing she’ll never deserve anything better than her graveyard shift waitress job or live up to the expectations of her long-suffering Greek mother.

One night, Ellen offers Lance a ride. From there, two night owl misfits discover they each can offer the other something to heal their wounds, ease their loneliness, and start a sometimes messy, sometimes difficult, but ultimately fulfilling path to self-acceptance. Night Shift in Tamaqua spans from late-night blue raspberry Slurpees to a surprisingly romantic Yom Kippur fast. This is a book for anyone who’s ever stayed up too late, but with thirteen original paintings by Coyote Jacobs accompanying the story, it will resonate at any time of day.