Caroline Jacobs has lost herself. She's a wife, mother (to a tattooed teenage daughter she avoids), Sears Portrait Studio photographer, and wimp. Asserting herself, taking the reins, or facing life head-on are not in her repertoire. So when Caroline suddenly cracks and screams "F--k you!" at the PTA president, she is shocked. So is her husband. So is the PTA president. So is everyone. But Caroline soon realizes the true cause of her outburst can be traced back to something that happened to her as a teenager, a scarring betrayal by her best friend, Emily. This act changed Caroline's life forever. 

So, with a little bit of bravery flowing through her veins, Caroline decides to go back to her home town and confront Emily. She busts her daughter, Polly, out of school, and the two set off to deliver the perfect comeback, which is 25 years in the making. 

But nothing goes as planned. Long-buried secrets begin to rise to the surface, and Caroline will have to face much more than one old, bad best friend. 

A heartwarming story told with Matthew Dicks' signature wit, The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs is a deceptively simple novel about the ways in which our childhood experiences reverberate through our lives and the bravery of one woman trying to change her life who finds true understanding of her daughter, and herself, along the way.