Super Short Summary

In Hope Was Here, 16-year-old Hope Yancey, raised by her Aunt Addie, moves from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, after their diner is shut down. They start anew at the Welcome Stairways diner, run by G.T. Stoop, who is battling leukemia. As G.T. runs for mayor against a corrupt incumbent, Hope navigates friendship, identity, and belonging, ultimately finding a sense of home and purpose. The narrative addresses voting fraud, cancer, and physical attacks.