About the Book
Seven months ago, Carol Parker left a note on the kitchen counter and walked out on her life, leaving behind a husband of nearly forty years and two adult children to navigate the silence she left behind.
In three days, Clayton is convinced his wife will return. It will be their fortieth wedding anniversary, and he believes she’ll come back to celebrate and rebuild what’s been broken.
Clayton’s children, Frankie and Jules, aren’t so sure. Frankie has gone numb in the wake of his own relationship’s collapse, and Jules is barely holding a fragile marriage together. As one Iowa summer weekend unfolds, each of them must face an invitation to rethink the future they were expecting.
Told with sharp insight and quiet compassion, Before Closure is a tender portrait of love stretched thin, the burden of unspoken truths, and the messy grace of daring to live.
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Shadley Grei
Award-Winning Writer, Publisher, Consultant
Turning Ideas Into Action
Shadley Grei is an award-winning writer, independent publisher, and consultant with more than 25 years of experience in entertainment, communications, and storytelling.
His debut novel, Before Closure, has received seven literary awards and distinctions, including the Midwest Book Awards' Insightful LGBTQ+ Perspectives Special Distinction, and was named a BookLife Editor's Pick by Publishers Weekly.
He owns Kingbird Press, a hybrid publishing company, and Grei Matter, a consulting firm whose clients have included Disney, Hasbro, and Condé Nast.
Literary Recognition
*Winner*:
36th Annual Midwest Book Awards (Insightful LGBTQ+ Perspectives)
Global Book Awards (LGBTQ+)
Literary Titan Book Awards (Drama)
Outstanding Creator Awards (Drama)
Storytrade Book Awards (Fiction - Regional - USA Midwest)
PenCraft Book Awards (Fiction - Drama)
Firebird Book Awards (Parenting & Family)
Critical Acclaim
BOOKLIFE, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY | Editor’s Pick
“Echoing the lyrical melancholy of authors like Ann Patchett at her most elegiac.”
LITERARY TITAN | Five Stars
“Readers who enjoyed Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove will recognize a similar blend of grief, humor, community and late-life reinvention.”
KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Grei’s prose is precise, deliberate, and attentive to rhythm and mood.”
Suggested Interview Topics
Shadley is available for conversations about writing, publishing, storytelling and the business of ideas.
Becoming a Debut Novelist After 50
Pursuing a longstanding creative ambition while drawing on decades of professional experience.
The Realities of Independent Publishing
The experience of being both an author and a publisher, from developing a manuscript to bringing a book to market.
Turning Ideas Into Action
Recognizing the untapped potential in existing stories, intellectual property and creative assets.
Before Closure
Kingbird Press LLC
Paperback: 9781965629000
Ebook: 9781965629062
BEFORE CLOSURE PRESS KIT
The Story Behind the Story
Before Closure started as a screenplay in 2010, written to showcase Central Iowa in a way that is rarely seen on film. Hollywood usually focuses on the vast cornfields and open plains rather than the cities and culture. This story opens on a farm before moving on to spotlight downtown life and various neighborhoods in and around Des Moines.
One of the main characters is also processing heartbreak as a nearly 40-year-old gay man, so it explores the LGBTQ+ experience in a subdued way through a lens rarely explored. A similar real-life heartbreak inspired this story, and the safe haven of a local, now-closed coffee shop central to that recovery became the backdrop for Before Closure.
At the height of the pandemic, Shadley was called back to Iowa from Los Angeles to care for his mother during what would become the last year of her life. On Christmas Day 2020, their home caught fire, forcing them into a hotel for eight months. In those quiet nights after his mother fell asleep, Shadley dusted off the old screenplay and reimagined it as a novel.
The result is Before Closure, a tender exploration of how one family faces an uncertain future.
After Closure: The 15-Year Journey to Publishing Before Closure
How a screenplay written in 2010 became an award-winning debut novel, and the experiences that transformed the story along the way.
Writing LGBTQ+ Characters Beyond Coming Out
Creating characters whose sexuality is part of their identity without making it their entire story.
What Reading More Than 500 Screenplays Taught Me About Storytelling
Lessons from evaluating stories for film and television and applying those lessons to writing fiction.