The  New York Times  bestselling author of  All the Bright Places —soon to be a Netflix film starring Elle Fanning—presents  a coming-of-age debut about ill-fated love during the Great Depression—and what it means to be a woman with ambition. Velva Jean’s mother urged her to “live out there in the great wide world,” and growing up in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean dreams of becoming a big-time singer in Nashville. Then she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher. As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing in the Grand Ole Opry.  Like  All the Bright Places , hailed as a “charming love story about [an] unlikely and endearing pair” ( New York Times Book Review ), Jennifer Niven’s debut novel is a big-hearted story about the struggle to find happiness. Author of the New York Times bestsellers All the Bright Places and Holding Up the Universe Indie Pick for the Indie Next List—“Great Reads from Booksellers You Trust” Praise for Jennifer Niven’s Velva Jean series: “A touching read, funny and wise, like a crazy blend of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, a less morose Flannery O’Connor, and maybe a shot of Hank Williams...Niven makes some memorable moon-spun magic in her rich fiction debut.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “In this story Jennifer Niven creates a world long gone, a mountain past where people suffer failure, loss, and betrayal, as well as the strength and joy of connection and deep love. Velva Jean Learns to Drive takes us far into this soaring, emotional country, the place where our best music comes from.”—Robert Morgan, bestselling author of The Road from Gap Creek and Gap Creek “A fluid storyteller.”—Wall Street Journal “Velva Jean learns to...not only drive, but to soar. This beautifully written coming-of-age story captivated me, and I recommend it to anyone who has ever longed to ‘live out there.’”—Ann B. Ross, author of the bestselling Miss Julia novels “Spirited.”—Parade “If [Niven] continues to create female characters as strong, as fallible and as appealing as Velva Jean, she has a grand career ahead of her.”—Wilmington Star News “Velva Jean makes a charming, bright-eyed narrator (bringing to mind that other delightful young rural protagonist: Scout of To Kill a Mockingbird).”—The Christian Science Monitor “The novel takes hold of your imagination and refuses to let go—even long after you've read the last page.”—Costco (Pennie’s Book Pick of the Month) Jennifer Niven  is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places  and Holding Up the Universe , as well as the popular   Velva Jean series. She is also the author of several non-fiction books, including Ada Blackjack,   The Aqua-Net Diaries,  and  The Ice Master,  which   was named a top non-fiction book by  Entertainment Weekly . Her  New York Times  bestseller  All the Bright Places is soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning. Although she grew up in Indiana, she now lives with her fiancé and literary cats in Los Angeles, which remains her favorite place to wander. One I was ten years old when I was saved for the first time. Even thoughJesus himself never had much to do with religion before he wastwelve, I had prayed and prayed to be saved so that I wouldn’t go tohell. Mama had never mentioned hell to me, but the summer after mytenth birthday, on the night before the yearly Three Gum Revival andCamp Meeting, my daddy told me that I might have to go there. Hesaid that’s where sinners went, and that everyone was a sinner untilthey were saved. “Have I been saved?” I asked him. “No, Velva Jean.” He was polishing the handheld pickax he some—times used for gold mining. The front door was open and a faint breezeblew in off the mountain. It was still hot, even at ten thirty at night.Somewhere, far away, there was the high, lonesome cry of a panther. “Why not?” “I don’t know. Maybe you ain’t opened yourself up to the Spirit.”Daddy’s face was quiet and blank so I couldn’t read it. His one goodeye—the one that wasn’t blind—wasn’t dancing like it normally did. Itwas always hard to know if he was mocking or serious on the subject ofreligion. “How do you know I ain’t saved?” I asked a lot of questions, some—thing my daddy never had much patience for, especially in the heat. “Because you’d know it if you was.” I thought about this, trying to remember a time when I might havebeen saved without knowing it. I couldn’t think of one and suddenlythis worried me. “What happens if I don’t get saved?” “It means that you’re ‘astray like a lost sheep,’ and that after you dieyou’re going straight to hell.” Daddy laughed. “That’s why your mamaand me prays every night for our children.” For a moment, I couldn’t speak. What did he mean, I was going todie? What did he mean, I was going to hell? I didn’t want to go to hell.Hell was for the convicts down at the prison in Butc