Perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove and The Wedding People, Jean Mallory Needs a Win blends poignancy and humor in an uplifting novel about a woman mired in loss who finds new life when she picks up a pickleball paddle.

Jean Mallory is barely surviving. Having lost her parents tragically at eighteen and then her husband, she has learned the hard way to keep her distance from people—relationships, she knows, only bring heartbreak. Carrying the burden of immense grief and a mountain of debt, all she wants is to keep her parents’ business legacy alive, which she runs from the comfort of her home. If her beloved dog Kramer did not need her daily walks, Jean would be quite content to never leave her dingy apartment (you can get anything delivered now). The problem is, people won’t leave her alone.

First there’s her blue-haired neighbor, who for some unfathomable reason thinks Jean might want to watch her pet fish while she’s away. Far worse is Gabby, the most irritatingly chipper person Jean has ever met. She’s an important business contact Jean can’t afford to alienate, which is the only reason she lets the petite chatterbox drag her to the nearby park to play pickleball, night after night.

On the courts, Jean slowly starts to come out of her shell in spite of herself, and even make a few friends. Before long, a new addiction is born—because who doesn’t like taking their frustrations out on a little plastic ball? But pickleball doesn’t help her desperate financial situation. Or make her devastating past disappear. And if Jean can’t learn to accept the help her new friends are offering, even surviving may become impossible.