Editors Reads Verdict
A worthy sequel that earns its existence: Hannah resists the temptation to repeat Firefly Lane's structure and instead writes something rawer and less symmetrical — a novel about grief's second year, when the shock has worn off and the difficulty of rebuilding begins.
What We Loved
- Hannah resists recycling Firefly Lane's structure — Fly Away is formally looser and emotionally rawer
- Marah's grief is rendered with the specific, unglamorous chaos of adolescent mourning
- Tully's unmooring after Kate's death is the most honest portrayal of survivor's guilt in Hannah's catalog
- The novel extends the world of Firefly Lane without diminishing it
Minor Drawbacks
- The novel is less emotionally coherent than Firefly Lane — deliberately, but not all readers will accept the trade
- Some plot elements rely on coincidences that the serious emotional register cannot support
- Tully's media-world storyline is less convincing than her personal narrative
Key Takeaways
- → The second year of grief is harder than the first — the world has moved on and the bereaved have not
- → A friendship can survive betrayal but it cannot be rebuilt by the same people who destroyed it
- → Adolescent grief is qualitatively different from adult grief and requires different forms of witness
- → Career success and personal disintegration can coexist for years before the disintegration wins
- → The people left behind by a death inherit each other whether they would have chosen that or not
| Author | Kristin Hannah |
|---|---|
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
| Pages | 400 |
| Published | February 5, 2013 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, Friendship, Drama, Women's Fiction |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Best For | Readers who have completed Firefly Lane and want to follow Tully's story after Kate's death. Not accessible as a standalone — the emotional weight depends entirely on what Firefly Lane has built. |
Fly Away Review
Fly Away is the novel Kristin Hannah did not have to write — Firefly Lane ended with Kate’s death, and that ending was complete, devastating, and structurally final. The sequel exists because the characters and their readers were not finished with each other, and the question Hannah faced was whether there was a story worth telling in the aftermath.
There is, and she tells it. Fly Away picks up immediately after Kate’s death and follows two women through the wreckage. Tully Hart, for the first time in her adult life, has no best friend. She has her television career, her money, her fame, and nothing she actually needs. Marah, Kate’s teenage daughter, is adrift in the specific way of a girl who has lost the person who understood her best — consuming grief the way only adolescents do, messily and dangerously.
Grief’s Second Year
What Hannah gets right that most grief narratives don’t is the texture of grief’s second act — after the crisis has passed, after people have stopped calling, after the world has resumed its normal pace while the bereaved have not. Tully’s disintegration is slow, unglamorous, and entirely credible. It does not resolve tidily because grief does not resolve tidily.
The Tully-Marah Axis
The novel’s structural gamble is centering the emotional narrative on Tully and Marah — two people connected primarily by their relationship to Kate — rather than on any of the characters whose prior development might make them easier to write. The gamble mostly pays off: both characters are raw in ways that feel earned.
Reading Order
- Firefly Lane (2008)
- Fly Away (2013)
Our rating: 4.4/5 — A sequel that justifies its existence by refusing to repeat its predecessor and instead writing honestly about what loss looks like after the acute phase has ended.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Fly Away" about?
Tully Hart has lost her best friend, her career, and her sense of who she is. Marah — Kate's daughter — is in free fall without her mother. The sequel to Firefly Lane follows both women as they try to piece together lives shattered by loss, finding in each other an unlikely path forward. Picks up directly from Firefly Lane's devastating ending.
Who should read "Fly Away"?
Readers who have completed Firefly Lane and want to follow Tully's story after Kate's death. Not accessible as a standalone — the emotional weight depends entirely on what Firefly Lane has built.
What are the key takeaways from "Fly Away"?
The second year of grief is harder than the first — the world has moved on and the bereaved have not A friendship can survive betrayal but it cannot be rebuilt by the same people who destroyed it Adolescent grief is qualitatively different from adult grief and requires different forms of witness Career success and personal disintegration can coexist for years before the disintegration wins The people left behind by a death inherit each other whether they would have chosen that or not
Is "Fly Away" worth reading?
A worthy sequel that earns its existence: Hannah resists the temptation to repeat Firefly Lane's structure and instead writes something rawer and less symmetrical — a novel about grief's second year, when the shock has worn off and the difficulty of rebuilding begins.
Ready to Read Fly Away?
Check the current price on Amazon.
Check Price on Amazon (paid link)Prices and availability are subject to change. See Amazon for current price.
Review last updated: