Tara Badstubner
In Tara Badstubner’s debut novel “Every Room Remembers” (Sibylline Press), set in Beaufort, a grieving widow and her recently departed husband must each find their way forward, even with the regrets and lack of resolution that haunt them.
After losing her husband Wyatt to a sudden accident, interior designer SJ Monroe believes she is alone with her crushing grief. Meanwhile, Wyatt, a ghost trapped in a liminal state, must watch in silence as the woman he loves wanders their unfinished farmhouse, mourning all that remained unresolved in their marriage – the children they never had, and the depression that stalked him.
Over the following months, with the company of Wyatt’s dog, SJ takes on a restoration job for the historic Osprey House in her hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina. There, she reconnects with family and finds new friends – a community determined to see her reclaim her life. Even signs from the natural world urge her forward. But not everyone wishes her well. Though trouble looms ahead, ever-watchful Wyatt is determined to see SJ happy again.
For fans of “Remarkably Bright Creatures” and the film “A Ghost Story,” “Every Room Remembers” is a resonant story of hope and reclamation and a thematically rich look at how the relationships we build sustain us in both life and death.
Badstubner says she hopes her readers who have who experienced deep grief will feel seen and held with love. “Grief can be so
isolating and sometimes the only thing a person has the bandwidth for is a book—not texts, lunch dates, or visitors at their door, but the humble book that one can pick up and put down at leisure. I want readers to experience the slow resurrection of SJ’s life and through her imagine a life for themselves where there are still one or two wonderful surprises waiting for them.”
Asked why she set her story in Beaufort, Badstubner says, “The region first appears on maps in the 1500s as Santa Elena, so it has seen a lot, experienced a lot. I wanted a place where one senses that compressed energy of many lives lived, all the joys and all the heartaches. Practically everyone in Beaufort has a ghost story they’ll gladly tell you. It’s part of the fabric of the town, this fragile veil between the living and the dead.”
Stacey Swann, author of “Olympus, Texas,” says “In ‘Every Room Remembers,’ SJ is a sought-after interior designer, but it’s Badstubner herself who has created the most beautiful space: a novel we can sink into, that we don’t want to leave. This luminous debut is masterfully built and beautifully detailed, echoing with the fullness of life–the dark moments as well as the glorious light.”
Tara Badstubner lives in Pennsylvania and is busy creating her next novel surrounded by her husband, children, grandbabies, and several silly dogs. “Every Room Remembers” is her debut novel, releasing September 2026 from Sibylline Press.
Tara Badstubner will be in downtown Beaufort Oct. 3rd, signing copies of her new book, starting at 1 pm, at Cashmere Books & Gifts, 700 Bay Street, Suite 105-A. For more information, visit her website at www.tarabadstubner.com
