The sequel to Eleanor’s Wars, winner of the 2016 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Best New Voice: Fiction, Don’t Put the Boats Away is a character-driven story about the privileged Sutton family’s struggles with PTSD, alcoholism, professional setbacks, and divorce following World War II.

In the aftermath of World War II, the members of the Sutton family are reeling from the death of a beloved family member in the war. Over the next twenty-five years, they all struggle with loss and grief. Daughter Harriet and son Nat attempt to fill the void.  Harriet becomes a chemist despite an inhospitable culture for career women in the 1940s and ’50s, hoping to move into the family business in New Jersey, while Nat works as a jazz musician. Both fight with their autocratic father, George, over their professional ambitions as they come of age. Their mother, Eleanor, who has PTSD as a result of driving an ambulance during the Great War, wrestles with guilt over never telling Eddie about the horrors of war before he enlisted. As the members of the family attempt to rebuild their lives, the intergenerational repercussions--divorce and alcoholism-- become apparent. In the end, they all make peace with their losses, each in his or her own way.