Take Me with You

An Instant USA Today Bestseller • A Beach Read 2026 Pick • New Release May 2026

"Only national treasure Steven Rowley could blur the otherworldly with the everyday and turn all of it into heartache-flavored comedy." — Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author

We are all alien, even to the people who know us best.

College professor Jesse del Ruth has been abandoned. Thirty years into their relationship, Jesse witnesses his husband Norman get out of bed late one night, walk into their Joshua Tree backyard, step into a strange beam of light — and disappear. How could Norman desert him after a lifetime together? Where did he go? And, most confoundingly — will he ever return?

As Jesse struggles to understand Norman's disappearance, he tries to piece together his new reality. Is he expected to wait patiently for a partner who may never come back? Or is this an opportunity for reinvention? He is, after all, alone for the first time in his adult life.

When Norman's sister Lally lands on Jesse's doorstep with an urgent request, Norman's absence becomes even more profound. Add a conspiracy-theorist neighbor, a strange man following him, and suspicions that Jesse may have had a hand in Norman's disappearance — and Jesse starts to crack under the pressure.

Before he can understand how Norman could leave it all behind, Jesse must confront what it means to stay.

📚 Hardcover | 368 pages