Cate Touryan’s storytelling is deeply rooted in coasts—from the Mediterranean coast of her birth to the Central California coast, where she lives just miles from the beach that inspired her first novel. With a career in education and as an editor, she brings a lyrical, heartfelt voice to her work that sifts for beauty among the ashes.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys walking the coastal trails, reading old classics and discovering new ones, and conjuring joy with family and friends. Both her fiction and creative nonfiction are marked by rich atmosphere, compassion for conflicted characters, and a faith that sees the invisible.

 

Winner — 2025 IAN Book of the Year Award, Cross Genre Fiction
Finalist — 2025 IAN Book of the Year Award, General Fiction

“Chasing the truth, huh? Sure you’re not running from it?” Hollis might be her only friend, a lanky boy Mama calls her “beau,” but Eden Lewis has no time for his hogwash. She’s got a mystery to crack. For most fourteen-year-olds, California summers in the early 1970s mean sun and surf, despite the Cold War chill. Not for Eden. Her AWOL father has sent her life into a tailspin, landing her in a shabby beach town, stuck caring for her severely disabled brother. Caught in her parents’ own cold war, Eden ditches Dex at every chance—pier fishing with Hollis, playing poker with the grizzled card sharks, and caterwaulin’ in the church choir, laying plain to the Almighty that singing terms ain’t the same as speaking terms, what with the hand he’s dealt her.

Then Raven arrives mid-ninth grade—an elusive Soviet girl rumored to rain black-winged curses over the fearful town. When a rash of petty crimes escalates to bloodshed on the beach, suspicion falls on the “commie”—and then Eden. Desperate to prove herself innocent, and Raven guilty, she embarks on a reckless game of chase. But for the truth to set her free, she must risk Dex’s life. Will she go all in, no matter the cost?

An evocative story laced with mystery, Turning Toward Eden weaves nostalgia with grit, sorrow with humor, and despair with faith, offering hope to anyone who has sought to belong in a world that rarely plays fair.

 

“This is storytelling at its most atmospheric—brimming with quirky, well-drawn characters, razor-sharp prose, and the kind of setting you can almost smell. The writing is lyrical, grounded, and often laugh-out-loud funny—even in the midst of deeply poignant moments. With a cast of endearing misfits and a tone reminiscent of Southern Gothic charm, this story lures you in from the very first line and doesn’t let go. Cate Touryan has a truly original voice, a rare gift for language, and a special ability to render a world so vivid you feel baptized in it.” — Zena Dell Lowe, Screenwriter, Story Coach, and Founder of The Storyteller’s Mission AMAZON