When Celia Canby—Kate’s niece, Bess’s mother, and Harriet’s cousin—is killed in a car accident, it’s up to Kate and Harriet to raise Bess. Ten years later, on the day of the accident, the local newspaper in Harvester, MN, dredges up the story of the accident for a careless “Way Back When” piece, subjecting the women to another round of grief.

Kate, arthritic and stuck far away from the farm she loves, is concerned about Bess. Headstrong and closed off, Bess yearns to escape Harvester before she “goes bad.” But when she begins to trace the same path of mistakes her mother made—a risky relationship with a local married man—everything seems on the verge of falling apart.

In a novel that celebrates the power of what a woman can do, What A Woman Must Do asks timeless questions about love and loss: How does our history define us? How can we let go of it? Should we?