"A reflective tale of growing up creative in a stifling environment and finding true love." – Kirkus Reviews Growing up in a strict Utah farm family during the Great Depression, Irene Larsen copes with her family’s hardship by playing piano. Even after an unthinkable tragedy strikes, Irene clings to her dream of becoming a musician. When a neighbor's farm is foreclosed, Irene's brother marries the neighbor's daughter, who moves in with the Larsens and coaches Irene into winning leading roles in musicals. Clashing with her mother, who dismisses her ambition as a waste of time and urges her to become a farmer's wife, Irene leaves home. During a summer gig at Zion National Park, where Irene sings in a variety show for Depression-weary tourists, she meets professional dancer Spike, a maverick who might be her ticket to a musical career. But ultimately she must decide whether pursuing her dream justifies its steep price: losing her home and family. Alternating between Irene’s ninetieth year in 2006 at an assisted living home and her coming-of-age in the thirties, Waltz in Swing Time is a poignant tale of mother-daughter relationships, finding hope amidst loss, and forging an independent path, against all odds. "Visually lush and emotionally stirring, Jill Caugherty's Waltz in Swing Time takes the reader on a journey into the bittersweet past of passionate, talented Irene Larsen, a girl who comes of age during the Great Depression and manages to survive it by her wits." - Indie Reader (4.7 out of 5 stars) "Over the course of this bright novel, Caugherty manages to seamlessly transition between two wildly different decades while maintaining a fresh, youthful voice--which is essential in a book about an ambitious dreamer who struggles through hard times." - Kirkus Reviews "I applaud Caugherty for addressing the emotional and intellectual value of the eldery without dismissing or diminishing them in the process. She draws attention to a deserving subject." - NC Literary Review, Winter 2022 Online Magazine "A lovely debut novel from a deft and insightful writer." - Rae Meadows , author of I Will Send Rain and Mercy Train "..at once a portrait of the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, a thrilling love story, and a powerful meditation on the meaning of freedom." - Abigail DeWitt, author of News of Our Loved Ones and Dogs "In this poignant debut novel, the character of Irene Larsen overcomes myriad obstacles to blaze her own path." - Heather Bell Adams, author of Maranatha Road and The Good Luck Stone "I applaud Caugherty for addressing the emotional and intellectual value of the eldery without dismissing or diminishing them in the process. She draws attention to a deserving subject." - NC Literary Review, Winter 2022 Online Magazine Coffee Pot Book Club Book Award, Five Stars, Highly Recommended, 2020 Voted 2020 Recommended Read by Haywire Books Voted Best Read of November 2020 by Girl Who Reads Jill Caugherty is the author of the novel Waltz in Swing Time , set in Depression-era Utah. A Stanford graduate and award-winning marketing manager with over twenty-five years of experience in the high tech industry, she lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and daughter. Her short stories have been published in 805Lit and Oyster River Pages, and her debut short story was nominated for the 2019 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Waltz In Swing Time is her first novel.