Kohelette: A Novel

“Full of Revelation, Resonance, and Heart!”
— Dheepa R. Maturi, author of 108: an Echo-Thriller, on Kohelette

Kohelette: A Novel

By Callie J. Smith

Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Magical Realism
Themes: Grief, Loss, Self-Discovery, Life Changes, Mothers and Daughters, Found Family, Generational Legacies
Publisher: Clay Patin Press
Release Date: April 1, 2026

She wants to do something new with her life, but she may need the dead to help her do it.

When Kohelette (“Lettie”) loses her job, she needs a new way to support her family. She also needs to deal with her critical ex-spouse, Ian, who shows up after years of silence wanting to reconnect with their daughter. Emotional and financial pressures mount, and Lettie considers selling the family house, but the ghosts of relatives intervene. They keep reminding her about the family dream of opening a yarn shop in the front room, and she’s realizing she might want to make that dream her own. But will Lettie find a way to keep the house before losing more than she even knew she had?

Domestic fiction meets magical realism in this story of piecing together a life after loss.

“Lettie’s journey of rebuilding her life while navigating
family tensions and the gentle intervention of ancestral
voices feels both intimate and deeply resonant.”
–Advance Reader Review

ISBN-13 (paperback edition): 979-8-9873209-6-9
ASIN (ebook edition): B0GDMQXXMT

About the Author

Callie J. Smith writes about women who, like her, are finding themselves. She’s author of the Sacred Grounds novels and blogs about everyday things like grief, hope, and creativity. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Abbey of the Arts, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Bearings Online, Branches, The Christian Century, Forever Yours: A Dragon Soul Press Anthology, Helix Literary Magazine, A Kintsugi Life, and Women Writers, Women[‘s] Books and received the 2025 Award of Merit (Best in Book) prize from The Polk Street Review. She’s a clergy person in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and a member of the Indiana Writers Center.