DAYTIME MOON
Coming May 2026 from Unnamed Press
"Gorgeously written and intensely felt, Schlottman adds a worthy milestone on her journey to excellence."
— Scott Semegran, award-winning author of Starman After Midnight
Isa has a gift. Premonitions, intuitive insight, a knack for tarot. But she is adrift.
Years ago, she ran away from one coast to the other and never looked back, but when her brother Cole unexpectedly shows up on her stoop, she’s convinced that it’s time to go home. Back in the California desert, Isa is swept up in her former life of late-night drag races by the Salton Sea, beers with the locals, and haunting reminders of the twin sister she lost and the mother she never got to meet.
When Dane, the man who raised them, becomes terminally ill, Isa is forced to confront everything she ran away from. In a posthumous letter, his revelations ignite her fearless internal drive. Traveling up and down California highways, through desert and forest, roaring coastline and border towns, Isa will follow the signs so delicately woven into the fabric of her life—a name, a constellation, a painting, a gleam of recognition on the water’s surface. If she can piece them together, she just might reunite the shattered remains of her beloved family.
Artfully narrated, Daytime Moon is an unforgettable journey through hidden stories, the shimmering fluidity of memory, the depths of women's secrets, and the magic of transmutation.
Early Praise
Daytime Moon is a deeply engrossing and extraordinarily powerful novel about the unspoken histories that shape our lives. Set against the stark beauty of the California desert and the Salton Sea, Schlottman’s story captures the gripping and complex emotional journey of a daughter in search of answers to both her mother’s past and her own future. Written with remarkable precision and insight, every page of Daytime Moon is a testament to Schlottman’s enormous gifts as a storyteller and writer.
— Andrew Porter, author of The Imagined Life
Tender, insightful, and intricately crafted, Daytime Moon explores the ways in which our decisions radiate forward with unforeseeable consequence. Masterfully weaving the everyday with the eternal, Schlottman invites us on an adventure of discovery and belonging. I returned to the beginning the moment I finished to marvel at how she pulled it off.
— Laura Venita Green, author of Sister Creatures
With exquisite writing, openhearted characters, and a compelling quest to unearth family secrets, Daytime Moon absolutely shines. From New York to coastal California, a vivid and thoughtful story unfolds. Pieces of a mother’s hidden life come together, while Mother Earth shows signs of coming apart. The harsh realities of stranded whales and Amazonian fires meet the mystical powers of tarot cards and dreamcatchers, as Schlottman creates a wonderfully complex texture giving readers an immersive and unforgettable read.
— Candi Sary, author of Magdalena
Daytime Moon is magnificent—a literary meditation about family, memory, and belonging with deep emotional stakes. Like trying to capture meaning in one’s life with a net, Schlottman beautifully illustrates the longing we all have for the places we came from and the places we hope to arrive to, both transitory like sand castles. Gorgeously written and intensely felt, Schlottman adds a worthy milestone on her journey to excellence.
— Scott Semegran, award-winning writer of Starman After Midnight and The Codger and the Sparrow
Daytime Moon is a book about the ties that bind and the ties we find along the way. It's about the journey inward to meet ourselves, and the journey outward to connect with the people who want to love us. The writing is as beautiful as the characters' stories. The tears you cry will be the kind that remind you of what it means to be human.
— Kim Hooper, author of Woman on the Verge
Daytime Moon shines with character depth and a striking sense of place. It delicately weaves several disparate themes into a cohesive story. There’s everything from family dynamics and romantic relationships to grief and trauma, and even a dash of tarot and deep intuition along with meditations on our natural world. In many hands this could make for a big, meandering book. But in Kerri Schlottman’s, it all seamlessly weaves together to make that just-right book. Characters you feel like you know and a story arc that holds you through every page.
— Megan Strang, Bookseller at Sidetrack Bookshop
