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Available September 2, 2025
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FromΒ New York TimesΒ bestselling author Sarah McCoyβa spellbinding novel based on a true story: a beautiful young movie star of Hollywoodβs Golden Age gives up her bright career to become a nun.
In 1969, twenty-three-year-old starlet Lori Lovely, the apple of Hollywoodβs eye, shocks the world by ditching a promising film career to take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience as a Benedictine nun. Gossip columnists and scandal sheets canβt get enough of the story. Why would such a beautiful girl take the veil? Was she hiding from someone? Did it have anything to do with the tragic death of her costar, heartthrob singer Lucas Wesley?
In 1990, Lu Tibbott is under the gun to complete her senior thesis in modern American history. Instead of spending weeks in dusty archives, Lu decides to dig into a true twentieth-century mystery and write about her aunt Lori, now the Mother Abbess at a cloistered convent in rural New England. Biographers, bloggers, and media types have long speculated about her aunt Loriβs sudden departure from Hollywood. Mother Lori, however, has refused all requests for interviewsβuntil Lu arrives at the abbey with a tape recorder in hand. To her delight, Mother Lori announces sheβs finally ready to talk…but only if Lu is truly ready to listen.
Lu is shocked to discover that the story of Lori Lovelyβs rise in Hollywood was far more tumultuous than sheβd ever expected, a fairy tale twisting with ambition, unforeseen alliances, forbidden love, and secrets. What began as a history thesis now threatens to upend all their lives with its unexpected truths, especially as the media gets wind of Luβs project and begins to askβ¦
Whatever happened to Lori Lovely?
“A tale with heart deepens to explore questions of love, loyalty, fame and faith.β
β CHARMAINE WILKERSON, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake
“The divine Sarah McCoy has written a novel of heartbreak and hope. Lori Lovely is an ambitious starlet in Hollywood when she is called to become a nun. Her hasty exit from the Hollywood scene raises eyebrows, and years later, the curiosity of her niece, Lu Tibbot. Lu makes her aunt the centerpiece of her senior thesis. As Lu chips away at the truth of her aunt’s life, secrets are revealed and loyalty is tested, leading to a bombshell discovery that will change Lu’s life forever. Sarah McCoy has done it again! Brava!“
βADRIANA TRIGIANI, New York Times bestselling author of All the Stars in the Heavens
“In the enchanting WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LORI LOVELY?, bestselling author Sarah McCoy spins an absorbing tale of a college senior adrift in her life who hopes she’ll find meaning in the story of her beloved aunt, a Benedictine nun who was once the biggest movie star in the world before she vanished from public view. What unfolds as young Lu begins asking questions is an emotional story of young love, Hollywood glamour, heart-wrenching betrayal, and devastating tragedy, all set to the backdrop of the 1960s film industry. Inspired in part by McCoy’s long correspondence with Mother Dolores Hartβa real-life Benedictine nun who was a movie star in the late 1950s and early 1960s, making her film debut opposite Elvis PresleyβWHATEVER HAPPENED TO LORI LOVELY? sparkles with an enticing blend of Hollywood glamour and deeper callings, as both Lori Lovely and her niece, Lu, ask themselves who they’re really meant to be.”
β KRISTIN HARMEL, New York Times bestselling author of The Stole Life of Colette MarceauΒ
“I knew this novel would be fun (who doesnβt love an ingΓ©nue turned movie star turned nun?), but it was so much more than that. It was a balm for the spirit, a beautifully-written, moving, page-turner that I didnβt want to end. Lori Lovely is a blueprint for how to create joy and meaning in a troubled world. I loved this book!β
β JEANINE CUMMINS, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Speak to Me of Home
βLori Lovely was a young girl who shot to international stardom on the silver screen, only to abruptly quit show business to become a nun. Years later, her niece comes to interview Lori for a thesis, and to find answers to long-held questions. With a completely unique premise and richly woven details, each page of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LORI LOVELY? leaves the reader hungry for more. Sarah McCoy has another best-seller!β
β MARY WEBBER OβMALLEY, Host/Producer and Bookseller at Skylark Bookshop
βSarah McCoy tells the captivating story of Lori Lovely, a Hollywood sensation in the 1960βs who shockingly turned her back on fame to join a cloistered convent. Now, as Mother Lori, she agrees to share the truth of her to her niece, Lu, for her college thesis. Inspired by a true story, Sarah, at the top of her writing game, shines in her storytelling, peeling back the layers of Loriβs journey. Readers will be riveted, surprised and hugely satisfied by the glamour of old Hollywood and the realities of the world. Sure to be a book club favorite about the choices we make and the paths we follow.βΒ
β RON BLOCK, Cuyahoga County Public Library/Contributor to the Friends and Fiction Show
