The Last Phone Booth in Manhattan

When a young woman hits rock bottom, she embarks on a positively Dickensian adventure in a witty and warmhearted novel about past regrets, old loves, new beginnings, and making up for lost time.

Avery Lawrence thought she had it all—a charming fiancé, a Broadway-themed star-studded engagement, and a picture-perfect life. But when her fraudster of a fiancé’s true identity is exposed and he’s hauled away in handcuffs, Avery’s world comes crashing down faster than the chandelier in Phantom of the Opera. Left stranded on Christmas Day outside the federal prison without her cell phone or wallet, Avery stumbles out of the cold and into the last phone booth in Manhattan. With nothing left to lose, Avery is directed by a mysterious voice on the line to the doorstep of the college boyfriend she thought she’d moved on from over six years ago.

When a second encounter with the phone booth leads Avery to a life-changing audition for Marley Is Dead, a new musical based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Avery is blown away by the striking similarities between the show and her own life. Convinced the phone booth is somehow responsible for reuniting her with “the one that got away” and reigniting her acting career, maybe she will finally have the chance to rewrite her future. But as she grapples with the ghosts of her past and the uncertainty of her present, Avery must decide whether to follow her heart or pursue her dream.

Beth Merlin earned her BA from The George Washington University and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School. A native New Yorker, Beth loves anything Broadway, romantic comedies, and a good maxi dress. When she isn’t writing, you can find her spending time with her husband, daughter, and two cavapoos, Sophie and Scarlett at home or at their favorite vacation spot, Kiawah Island, SC.

Danielle Modafferi, a high school English teacher and pun enthusiast, earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2014 and, shortly after, founded Firefly Hill Press in 2016. By day, she helps her students discover the magic of language, but by night, she’s a writer and publisher on a mission to unleash her creativity and help others do the same. If there is ever time left in the day, Danielle loves making memories with friends and family, traveling to faraway (and some not-so-faraway) places, and snuggling with her two dogs, Jackson and Liam, who are also incidentally her biggest fans.