An escape to Mackinac Island, just for the season. Have you ever wondered ... What would happen if you just slipped away? Could you leave what’s familiar to become someone else—in a different place, living a different life with no one noticing? That’s a question Olivia Nash never knew she had, until she started answering it. Her son has slipped away on a summer internship at a Michigan camp. Her husband, Nate, has slipped away on an extended assignment in Montreal; too busy, too wrapped up in a high-stakes merger to include her. Olivia wouldn’t want to spend a summer in a city she didn’t know without him to keep her company. What would she do all day? Besides, they speak French in Montreal. It’s not that she intended to run away, if that’s what you want to call it. But smart phones and distracted, disinterested people make it surprisingly easy to telecommute in your role as wife, mother, sister and friend. Where you are is irrelevant. Until where you are, begins to change who you are. Back in a place from her past, on an island that lives in the past, Olivia creates a second, parallel life with an unlikely assortment of people: an independent college student in a quiet crisis; the eccentric owner of Mackinac Island’s bookstore; Chef, now older and somehow better looking, but still the temperamental prodigy she remembered from that summer long ago. And the owner of a cottage, known only to her through emails as Frankie, who invites her to house-sit and later revive the neglected Lilac Cottage, giving Olivia the place to reimagine her life and calling at the same time. You might be able to slip away from your life, or take a sabbatical of sorts. For a summer. It’s not clear if just as easily you can slip back into the life you left behind when the season ends . "If you love Elin Hilderbrand novels and Mackinac Island, you'll love When the Season Ends. The story and characters are compelling, and you'll find yourself caring for each one. When the story-and the season-ended, I wanted more!" - Tamara Tomac, manager, The Island Bookstore, Mackinac Island "Through crystal clear prose sprinkled with quietly sharp observations about modern womanhood, Windahl tells an instantly relatable story, lovingly set on the shores of Mackinac Island's lush blue water. I loved discovering Olivia's journey right alongside her." - Jeff Graham, award-winning writer/director of Always, Lola "When the Season Ends touches on so many thoughts, feelings, and situations that arise as mothers move into new stages of life. The characters may be fictional, but the landscape is as real as it gets." - Jodi Bird, literary destination influencer, Bountiful Blessings Travel "​​Mackinac Island comes to life in a vivid novel that draws us in and takes us on a journey through a season that you don't want to miss. Stacy has given us a splendid story with complex characters and a strong sense of place. When the Season Ends is a read that is both captivating and as inviting as a warm summer's day!" - Jody Jean Dreyer, 30-year Disney veteran and former senior corporate staff member, author of Beyond the Castle, A Guide to Discovering Your Happily Ever After "A wonderful, engaging story about a woman finding her way back to herself, set against the backdrop of beautiful Mackinac Island. I was deeply connected to the main character and am hoping for another book to find out what happens next! If you love Mackinac Island and just a good story, I highly recommend!" - Sharon Hegarty, Mackinac Island summer resident Stacy Windahl is a graduate of Kenyon College and Baldwin Wallace University with degrees in economics and business administration. She studied gracious hospitality for a season on Mackinac Island. No degree was conferred. Instead, she received a lifelong love of the island.For twenty-five years, Stacy has been a marketing communications writer for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. She coauthored a book on the magic of working for The Walt Disney Company from the experience of C-suite executive, Jody Dreyer (Beyond the Castle: AGuide to Discovering Your Happily Ever After [Zondervan, 2017]).Stacy enjoys entertaining, travel (she studied economics and theology for a year in St. Andrews, Scotland), a hot cup of coffee, and a good story, believing every person has a story worth telling.She, her husband, Jeff, and dog, Winnie, live in her hometown of Bay Village, Ohio, on the Lake Erie shore. Their son and daughter, their spouses, and recent additions to the family make their homes in the Cleveland area as well.Follow Stacy on Instagram at @stacywindahl or on stacywindahl.com. Noel Skiba is an award-winning impressionistic painter and instructor, and fourth-generation artist. Born and raised in Alpena, Michigan, she began painting at age two. She visited Mackinac Island as a five-year-old Girl Scout and fell in love. Even then, she knew she would find her home on the island.Noel has won numerous awards, including the Lilac Festi