Eat and Get Gas, the new novel from award-winning author J.A. Wright.

Winner of the 2024 Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize Contest (fiction)

Winner of Story Circle’s Sarton Award 2024

Emmy-nominated Producer Leanne Moore (GLOW and The Lincoln Lawyer for Netflix, ROAR for Apple TV+) has optioned the film and TV rights to Eat and Get Gas.

Thirteen-year-old Evangeline (Evan) Hanson is always the last in her family to know what's going on; at least, that's how it feels.

When her brother gets drafted to Vietnam, her anti-war mother takes him to Canada, leaving Evan and her younger, special needs brother with their army officer father—who, unwilling to shoulder the burden of caring for his kids, takes them to their grandmother's roadside cafe and home.

At Eat and Get Gas, Evan encounters a cast of characters she both likes and fears and eventually learns a big family secret that changes how she feels about everyone and everything.

***

  • J.A. Wright's uncanny ability to place the reader at the very center of 13-year-old Evan’s head captured me, from page 1.

    Eat and Get Gas kept me from sleep right up to the perfectly pitched ending. –

    Jenni Ogden, award-winning author of A Drop in the Ocean, and Call My Name.

  • Storytelling at its best, 'Eat and Get Gas' grabs the reader from page one and doesn’t let go.

    The unexpected twist at the end is oh-so-worth the wait!

    Laurie Buchanan, author of the Sean McPherson novels

  • 'Eat and Get Gas' ticks all of the boxes...

    Add a wow of an ending and the best title ever, and Eat and Get Gas ticks all of the boxes for a truly satisfying read.

    Deborah K. Shepherd, author of So Happy Together

  • Great cast of characters

    A Great cast of characters, a compelling story, and convincingly told.

    Joe Bennett, New Zealand columnist and travel writer

  • Complex and memorable characters are at the heart of this intriguing narrative

    Family, politics, and survival drive this page-turner caught in the turbulent times of the Vietnam war. Throw in DB Cooper and you’ve got one exciting novel! Well done!

    Marianne Lile, author of Stepmother - A Memoir

  • Evan’s story is poignant and raw and honest.

    This is one of those books that, when you put it down, you find yourself weeks later wondering how the characters are doing. It will be hard to forget her.

    Cindy Eastman, author of Flip-Flops after 50

About The Author

J.A. (Jodi) Wright was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, USA, and moved to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1990. She is a writer with two published novels and an event producer who founded or co-founded several New Zealand festivals, including the World Buskers Festival, Christchurch Writers Festival (WORD), and the New Zealand Jazz & Blues Festival.

J.A. Wright’s award-winning coming-of-age novel, How to Grow an Addict, was published in 2015. Her second novel, Eat and Get Gas, was published in 2024.

Both are published by She Writes Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster.


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