Spring 2026

There's something about spring that refuses to be subtle. After three months of white skies and early dark, the world starts offering evidence again—green at the edges of things, light that stays a little longer than it did yesterday. It doesn't ask for your attention. It just keeps going.

This quarter has felt like that for us at Glimpse. Quietly, steadily, things have become visible that we weren't sure we'd see this soon. The Cake Doctor—which began as a birthday gift for Laurie and was never meant for anyone else—has become our best-selling novel. More than 34 readers have left reviews averaging 4.7 stars. I still find that hard to believe. The most private thing I've written turned out to be the one that reached the most people.

We've also been working on something larger this season—a project called Second Half Compass, which represents a new direction for Glimpse: not just books, but a structured way to help people navigate the second half of life with intention. I'll share more below. It feels important in a way I want to be careful about explaining.

And through all of it, Laurie has been right here—editing, shaping, grounding me when I get ahead of myself. This press has always been two people. It always will be.

— Robert
(with Laurie, always)

Over the past several months, we've been quietly developing something that sits alongside our books—something we believe in deeply. It's called Second Half Compass, and it launches this June.

It began with a simple recognition: many people reach their 50s, 60s, and beyond with more freedom than they've ever had—and less certainty about what to do with it. Retirement arrives, or approaches, and instead of feeling like arrival, it feels like standing at a trailhead without a map.

Second Half Compass is available directly to individuals, and also through a licensing model for retirement coaches, financial planning firms, and HR teams. If you work with people navigating this transition—or if you know someone who does—we'd love to start a conversation.

Last winter, we mentioned that something I'd written for Laurie's birthday—a story called The Cake Doctor—might be finding its way into the world. It has. And what has happened since has been quietly stunning.

The Cake Doctor is now our best-selling novel. Readers have described it as warm, unexpected, and quietly healing. Many have said they recognized someone they love in the pages.

That's the only thing I ever wanted from this story. If it sounds like something you'd like to give—to yourself or someone else—it's waiting for you.

For newer readers of this letter, a few titles from the Glimpse catalog that continue to find their audiences in unexpected ways:

The full catalog is at Glimpse Publishing House. Browse slowly—some books find you before you find them.

The Glimpse Library is our philanthropic vision—and building it into something real and lasting is one of the most important things we're working toward this year. Our goal is to create a structure that places books in hospice waiting rooms, rural libraries, and hospital chapels: places where someone is sitting with a hard question, and where a book that simply keeps them company, without trying to fix anything, might matter more than we'll ever know.

We're in the early stages of developing how this comes together—thinking carefully about how the growth of Second Half Compass might help fund it, and what it would look like to make placement sustainable, not just occasional. It won't happen all at once. But it will happen, and we want to do it right.

If you're affiliated with a hospice program, hospital, or rural library, we'd love to hear from you. Your perspective will help us build this well.