It begins like any other Tuesday morning in New York City.
Emily Lombardo, a sharp-witted, coffee-dependent twenty-eight-year-old from Queens, steps into an elevator at the World Trade Center's North Tower. She's running on too little sleep and too much of a stranger's painful story rattling around in her head. She isn't looking for anything, certainly not love. And then the doors close.
Christopher Anderson, Jr., handsome, well-dressed, smelling faintly of citrus and sea air, smiles at her with perfect white teeth and asks what floor she's going to.
She hasn't pushed a button yet.
What unfolds from that chance encounter is a love story unlike any other, warm, funny, deeply human, and set against the most devastating morning in American history. As Emily and Chris are pulled apart by the chaos and horror of September 11, 2001, every choice becomes urgent, every feeling raw, and every moment borrowed from a world that will never be the same.
Emily in the Elevator is a story about the people we almost miss - the ones who appear beside us in ordinary moments and change everything. It's about a young woman finally ready to stop playing it safe, a city shaken to its core, and a love that refuses to be buried in the rubble of an unthinkable day.
Deeply respectful of the real heroes - the first responders, firefighters, and ordinary people who gave everything, Brian Duggan has crafted a historical romance that honors the tragedy of 9/11 while celebrating the resilience of the human heart.
Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is step out of the elevator.
