An advice columnist and mother searches for vanished husband in this dramatic novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean.

An advice columnist for a Wisconsin newspaper, Julieanne Gillis dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was amiss in her own home. Devoted to being a good mother and keeping her twenty-year marriage fresh and exciting, she is shocked by her husband's surprise announcement that he needs a "sabbatical" from their life together—and devastated when he disappears, leaving Julie with no funds to raise two teenagers and a small daughter alone. But it is the discovery Julieanne suffers from a serious illness that truly crumbles her family's foundation—setting her children on a dangerous, quixotic journey to locate their missing father before it's too late.

Praise for The Breakdown Lane

"Rousing melodrama; fluid, often funny, dialogue; and the convincing portrayal of children involved in the collapse of a marriage add up to another page-turner from Mitchard." — Publishers Weekly

"An astute observer of family dynamics, Mitchard renders her characters flawlessly, endowing them with a humanity that is both accessibly grounded and astonishingly deep." — Booklist

"A compelling mix of suspense, humor, and abiding humanity." — Boston Globe

"A novel you will read once, then again and again." — Tulsa World