Velva Jean Learns to Drive. Book 1 in the Velva Jean series

The New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places-soon to be a Netflix film starring Elle Fanning-presents a coming-of-age debut about ill-fated love during the Great Depression-and what it means to be a woman with ambition. Velva Jean's mother urged her to "live out there in the great wide world, " and growing up in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean dreams of becoming a big-time singer in Nashville.
Then she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher. As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing in the Grand Ole Opry. Like All the Bright Places, hailed as a "charming love story about [an] unlikely and endearing pair" (New York Times Book Review), Jennifer Niven's debut novel is a big-hearted story about the struggle to find happiness.