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GIVEN OUR HISTORY
by Kristyn J. Miller

GIVEN OUR HISTORY by Kristyn J. Miller

St. Martin’s Griffin - August 2024

* Foreign sales: British (Zaffre/Bonnier), The Netherlands (April Books), Russai (MTS)

Tagline: In this sparkling romance, two professors with a complicated past get a second chance to prove history won't repeat itself.

About GIVEN OUR HISTORY: Assistant professor Clara Fernsby is nothing if not driven. She’s wanted to teach history since she was fourteen, and she hasn’t let anything stand in her way—not even the love of her life. And it all paid off in the end, because she landed a well-paid position at a private liberal arts college fresh out of grad school, and this year, she’s finally up for tenure.

When Theodore Harrison is brought on for the fall semester as a visiting scholar, it’s an unexpected blast from Clara’s past. She hasn’t spoken to Teddy since rejecting him over a phone call ten years ago. Now that he’s here, she’s reminded of their time together at every turn: autumns spent at a sleepaway camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains, trading battered history books and burned CDs with the quiet, dark-haired boy she once fell in love with.

That boy might’ve been her best friend, but the man teaching HIST-322 is a total stranger—or so she thinks. As they spend evenings working on a shared project and brainstorming over drinks at a college bar, Clara realizes she’s at risk of falling all over again. Given their history, she knows there’s every chance he’s not interested. But history’s all down to interpretation, and this time around, she’s got no intentions of repeating it.

About the author: Kristyn J. Miller is an author and freelance editor with a background in marketing and museum work. She grew up in Southern California, where she spent summers escaping to Catalina Island, but these days she lives in Maine. She has a BA in literature from University of Redlands and an MA in history and museum studies at University of New Hampshire. Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts was her debut novel. https://kristynjmiller.com/

Instagram: KristynJMiller

Twitter: KristynJMiller

Foreign sales history:

Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts: Greece (Psichogios), Italy (Queen Edizioni), The Netherlands (April Books), Russia, at auction (MTS Library)

Praise for GIVEN OUR HISTORY:

“Kristyn J. Miller’s Given Our History is such a lived-in, heartwarming romance about two childhood friends who find their way back to each other as adults. I felt as nostalgic for their camp-pen-pals-with-book-clubs-and-mix-CDs relationship as though I put the stamps on the letters myself. There are so many threads in their relationship and then when you see the way they knit them all together! I love dreaming of a future of Clara and Teddy reading history books aloud together and choosing each other as best friends, always.” – Alicia Thompson, USA Today bestselling author of Love in the Time of Serial Killers

“Given Our History is second chance romance, ivy-covered academia, and complicated family history at its sweetest and most heartwarming.” – Trish Doller, internationally bestselling author of Float Plan

“Readers are going to fall in love with Clara and Teddy’s years-spanning love story, filled with delicious nostalgia, laugh-out-loud nerdiness, and sizzling romance. A must read!” – N.S. Perkins, bestselling author of The Infinity Between Us

“Sweet and sweeping, Miller’s Given Our History is the perfect study in how our longest held feelings can lead us into life’s loveliest surprises. A masterclass in nostalgia and second-chances crafted into an emotional and charming romance.” – Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of The Roughest Draft

“This book was designed in a lab for me—or, more accurately, a musty History department in an ivy-covered building: competent grown-up protagonists, second-chance-friends-to-lovers story, tweed and elbow patches atmosphere. Miller has created a world I’ve never read before populated with fully-realized, completely original characters to root for. A beyond satisfying read. My heart is happy. A+. With honors. Summa cum Laude.” – Julia Whelan, internationally bestselling author of My Oxford Year and Thank You for Listening

“I was not expecting this to be such an angsty, wonderful, heart-wrenching story. The dual timelines worked wonders for this book and were, in my opinion, the best part.” – Fantastically Fabled

“Charming….If you’re in the mood for a snugly book that’s all about second chances in love, this one’s got you covered!” – Lavender Bliss Online