This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2024 by Sarah Easter Collins
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Crown and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Collins, Sarah Easter, author.
Title: Things don’t break on their own : a novel / Sarah Easter Collins.
Other titles: Things do not break on their own.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023051985 | ISBN 9780593798331 (hardcover ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593798355 (trade paperback ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593798348 (ebook)
Subjects: LCGFT: Thrillers (Fiction) | Novels.
Classification: LCC PR6103.O459 T48 2024 | DDC 823/.92—dc23/eng/20240304
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023051985
Hardcover ISBN 9780593798331
Ebook ISBN 9780593798348
Editor: Amy Einhorn
Editorial assistant: Lori Kusatzky
Production editor: Natalie Blachere
Print text designer: Meryl Sussman Levavi
Print production manager: Heather Williamson
Managing editor: Christine Tanigawa
Publicist: Mary Moates
Marketer: Kimberly Lew
Cover design by Christopher Brand
Cover photograph by Kilito Chan
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Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1: Supper with Friends
Chapter 2: The View from Tea Mountain
Chapter 3: Supper with Friends
Chapter 4: Summer Break
Chapter 5: Supper with Friends
Chapter 6: Small Bones
Chapter 7: A Doll in a Music Box
Chapter 8: The Fermi Paradox
Chapter 9: Lamb
Chapter 10: Driving Lessons
