What We Found Instead

A moving and compulsively readable novel about two very different women and the unlikely bond they forge in the wreckage of one man’s betrayal.

Maggie feels behind for thirty-five—still unsure about her career path, still living with roommates and struggling through a never-ending PhD—but at least she’s certain about her relationship with her boyfriend, Karl. That is until she hears the voicemail on Karl's phone from some woman named Eve, who’s using words Maggie can’t process—like “baby,” “love,” and “tonight.” In an instant, Maggie’s trust in Karl unravels, but she doesn’t know the whole truth—and only one person can help her find it: Eve.

Eve didn’t flee New York and the stress of running her hand-crafted furniture business just to be dragged into someone else’s drama. She likes the quiet rhythm of her Northern Ontario lake life: her dog, her cozy home, her dependable routines—and Karl, at least on the weekends when he’s not working in Toronto. So when a stranger presses for a meeting, Eve is wary. She doesn’t like her earnestness, her probing questions, her expectation of solidarity. And she certainly doesn’t like the news Maggie delivers: Karl is her boyfriend, too.

Maggie and Eve’s tense encounter upends both of their lives. They expect to never see each other again, but instead they’re thrown back together—forced to face their resentments and insecurities head-on, pushed into vulnerability with the one person whose very existence caused their heartbreak.

What We Found Instead is a captivating and insightful look at complex relationships and a love letter to female friendship, asking us to consider questions about love, loyalty, and what we owe to ourselves and to others.

About the Author :
HEIDI REIMER is a novelist, a writing coach with Sarah Selecky Writing School, and the author of The Mother Act. Her writing explores the lives of women, usually those bent on breaking free of what they’re given to create what they yearn for. She has published in Chatelaine, The New Quarterly, Literary Mama, Lit Hub, and in the anthologies The M Word: Conversations About Motherhood and Body & Soul: Stories for Skeptics and Seekers. Heidi grew up in the wilds of Northern Ontario and currently lives and writes in Brockville, Ontario. For more, visit www.heidireimer.com.

Review :
Praise for What We Found Instead:

“From the first chapter, I was captivated by Maggie and Eve, their vulnerable strength, their fierce fragility, all their missteps on their way to wholeness. I was captivated by the setting as well, equal parts wild and tranquil. What unfolds in this remote lakeside place is absolutely a love story, one that reminds us of the surprising shapes love—and family—can take." —Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Love Walked In and I’ll Be Your Blue Sky

“What We Found Instead is the rom-com I didn’t know I needed, with a platonic female relationship at its centre: it made me laugh, cry, and long to live in Northern Ontario. Heidi Reimer knows how to write a complicated woman to delight in even as she builds a small channel where we might pour our rage.” —Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops

“This captivating story about a most unlikely friendship will stay with me for a long time. I absolutely devoured it. Reimer beautifully shows how our most painful experiences can sometimes lead to a happily ever after we never could have imagined. What We Found Instead is going to the top of my recommended books. —Diane Barnes, author of More Than, All We Could Still Have, and The Mulligan Curse

“What We Found Instead explores how friendship can become a home. Heidi Reimer leans into hope—for the restoration of broken relationships, for healing through commitment and care, and for physical and emotional repair in the aftermath of immense loss.” Carrie Snyder, author of Girl Runner

“In What We Found Instead, Reimer deftly tells the story of an unlikely relationship and what happens when two people push beyond initial judgements and do the work to truly know each other. Maggie and Eve are fully realized and memorable characters: wise, messy, emotionally complex, and full of grace. Written in clear-hearted prose, What We Found Instead is an inspiring take on the true meaning of partnership.” —Teri Vlassopoulos, author of Living Expenses and Escape Plans