Saltwater Cowboys

Frances Lunn grew up running free on Assateague Island, a place made famous by wild horses, white-sand beaches, and whispers of lost treasure. Years later, she transformed that childhood into a best-selling memoir, until her sister Maeve publicly dismantled it, calling the story a fabrication and leaving Frances in personal and professional ruin.

Now living in Richmond, Frances is trying to rebuild from the wreckage when her brother Tommy arrives with a familiar request: come home and finish what their father started—a lifelong, obsessive search for a treasure said to be hidden somewhere deep in the island’s history—the dream he died chasing. For years, Frances has refused Tommy, keeping her distance from Assateague, her family, and the grief she never allowed herself to face.

Fueled by the possibility of restoring her reputation—and the relationship with her brother—Frances returns to the island. There, she is forced to confront the siblings she abandoned, the love she left behind, and the obsession that consumed her father. Frances quickly gets entangled in the past and the memories she was determined to forget, and the deeper she ventures into the island’s secrets, the more her family’s own hidden truths rise to the surface.

Saltwater Cowboys is a sweeping, multi-generational story about the stubborn strength of family bonds, the persistence of grief, and what we owe the people we love.