The Best Place

An irritating best friend gained during a childhood spent in a Catholic orphanage, a father who became a Communist and went to Russia in the 1930s, and 3:00 a.m. visits to The Pancake House. Such is the life of Lyla Hopewell. But in the summer of 2005, when her old boyfriend Bill has a heart attack, her best friend Bel really gets on her nerves, and Finn Fest comes to Marquette, things will change for Lyla.

Joined by a cast of Marquette’s most eccentric and endearing characters—the foul-mouthed fourteen-year-old Josie; ninety-three-year-old Eleanor, still trying to fix her little brother’s love life; ex-boyfriend and blunt womanizer, Bill; blind Mary Mitchell and her ornery sister Florence; the sweet but romantically confused cabdriver Sybil; and many, many more—Lyla recounts her life-story as she comes to terms with her past. After years of feeling unloved, neglected, frustrated, and unfulfilled, can Lyla finally find her own best place?

Cover Photo courtesy of
Jack Deo, Superior View

6x9 size, paperback, 432 pages,
ISBN 9780979179075.

Look Inside the Book

Media Kit

Note: Book contains some adult language and situations.

$24.95
Price includes book & shipping Media rate. Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. Michigan residents will be charged an additional 6% sales tax.

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Praise for Tyler R. Tichelaar's The Best Place

"The Best Place is for sure one of the most captivating and unique Historical Fiction book I read this year, one that will resonate in my mind for a while. I highly recommend it to adult readers, and place it at a high 5 star in my book!"
- Susan Violante of www.ReaderViews.com in Seattle PI, September 2, 2013

"The book is told through the viewpoint of this feisty, hilarious 77-year-old lady, and she's just a riot...because Lyla has this way of speaking her mind throughout the narration that draws you in and makes you chuckle no matter what topic she is talking about."
- Jenifer Brady, author of the Abby's Camp Days series

"Lyla, and her friend Bel, are so "real" I felt like I knew them personally. I had the feeling I was sitting with Lyla in her living room as she told the story of here life, sometimes skipping around as "old people" often do.... She's that "real." I laughed; I cried; I didn't want the book to end....There is a piece of her [Lyla] in most of us I think. And it's not a bad place to be." 
- Deborah Frontiera, author of Living on Sisu