Across the Earth and Sky

by Elissa Grossell Dickey

At the end of the world, they lost everything but found each other.

As Lilly Franklin prepares to board a shuttle with her husband and son in the face of an impending asteroid strike, she’s approached by a child who is on her own and scared. In a moment of weakness, Lilly gives up her seat to the girl. Alone, she heads for a safe haven.

Hundreds of miles away, Maggie Keller, Lilly’s former best friend, lives with regret over the marriage she left college for. With impending disaster looming, her volatile husband disappears to join a dangerous organization that formed in the shadows of this changing world. Maggie sets out on a mission to find him.

Both Lilly and Maggie navigate back to the Minnesota Northwoods, where they attended college together. There, they meet and unite with others who have stayed behind, including Lilly’s cousin Zane, who has strong feelings for Maggie. He also has tickets for another shuttle launch. For Lilly, this means one last chance to get back to her family. But they must get past Maggie’s husband and his dangerous group, which could give Maggie an opportunity to reclaim all he has taken from her.

293 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2026

About the author

Elissa Grossell Dickey is a former journalist who now works as the communications and marketing director for her local public school district. Stories have always been a big part of Elissa’s life—from getting lost in a book as a child to reading to her kids at bedtime. She has shared her personal story of living with multiple sclerosis through blog posts for the National MS Society. Though she grew up among the lakes and trees of northern Minnesota, Elissa now lives on the South Dakota prairie with her husband and children. She is the author of The Speed of Light, Iris in the Dark, and the upcoming Across the Earth and Sky. Learn more at https://linktr.ee/elissagrosselldickey.

Reviews

[Paulette Kennedy]

Across the Earth and Sky is a love story--to family, both by blood and by bond, and the unexpected ways in which our lives intersect. It's also a taut sci-fi adventure centered around an apocalyptic event--an asteroid set on a collision course with Earth, that will forever alter life as we know it.

In the wake of this catastrophic news, a worldwide lottery is held to designate those slated for evacuation to a colony on the Moon. Lilly and her family are among those selected. But at the last moment, before boarding the lunar shuttle, Lilly makes a devastating choice--to stay behind on Earth and give her coveted spot to a child she does not know.

What ensues is partially a doomsday survival novel, with Lilly joining forces with her cousin Zane, a former MMA fighter, and her college best friend, Maggie, whose point of view provides a contrasting perspective to Lilly's. Together, they trek across the Midwest to reunite with what remains of Lilly's family, while Maggie has a dangerous secret mission of her own.

As the asteroid nears Earth's atmosphere, the trio must make difficult choices in order to survive and rely on one another for protection as they encounter refugees who have nothing left to lose.

Grossell Dickey is adept at creating believable stakes and palpable tension. In the same vein as The Road or Station Eleven--which focus mainly on the interpersonal relationships between characters coping with a world in peril, rather than heavy speculative elements--Across the Earth and Sky is a novel about connection and seeking what matters most when life and everything you once took for granted is no longer guaranteed. You won't be able to put this one down!

[Janet | purrfectpages]

“As an adult, though, I realize that a thousand different apocalypses happen every day on a personal level, your own catastrophic tragedy that ends your individual world… And now here we are, facing down the actual end of the world.”

What would you do if the end of the world was an imminent reality? That’s the premise behind Elissa Dickey’s latest release, Across the Earth and Sky.

In this story we meet Lily Franklin, her husband, and son as they are about to board a shuttle to the moon. They are leaving in an effort to avoid an incoming asteroid that is slated to make direct contact with Earth. But as they are boarding, Lily notices a little girl in the airport looking both scared and alone.

In a split second decision, Lily gives her seat to the little girl, making the heartbreaking choice to be separated from her family indefinitely. As she makes the journey back home her mission is clear- do everything she can to be reunited with them before it’s too late.

Meanwhile, Lily’s former best friend Maggie is navigating her own set of troubles. As if facing the end of the world as she knows it isn’t harrowing enough, Maggie’s husband is part of a dangerous movement that has assembled on Earth since the announcement. Eventually the women are brought back together, united in their survival-and their sentimentality. Now it’s a race against the clock. Can each woman accomplish what they want by working together?

Across the Earth and Sky explores a dystopian reality that isn’t as far fetched as it once seemed. It also tackles some moral and ethical dilemmas. Lily’s impossible choice makes the reader question that they would do in the same situation, while Maggie’s volatile husband provokes collateral compassion. The implications of both leaving and staying are also explored, realistically offering no easy answers.

With her third novel, Dickey has quietly placed herself in a class of authors to watch that deserves both more awareness and attention.

[Elissa Dickey]

Dear readers, this book has been in my heart for a long time. I wrote it during a very difficult time in my life, and although it has gone through many revisions over the years, the heart of the story has remained constant. I'm so excited for this book to be out in the world, and I hope you all love it as much as I do. ❤️

[Ted Dickey]

This is the author's 3rd book. From the first page the dialogue just grabs you. Then the writing spurs your imagination on the possibilities of where and how the book will end. I am about 1/2 way through and having problems putting it down.

[Gretchen Mayer]

I've read all three of Elissa's books and can't wait to get my hands on her next work.
Across the Earth and Sky is riveting from the first page. The agony of motherhood and loss, redemption through friendship and the conquest over evil gives the reader a roller-coaster ride.

The earth is in the path of an asteroid. Some people are being evacuated. Some choose to stay. Others-the criminal element, the ill and aging, are not allowed on one of the shuttle heading to a colony on the moon. The government has washed its hands of the remaining humans leaving them to fend for themselves.

She's described in believable detail what a colossal event such as this would look like and without spoiling the story, believe me when I say this is a book you will recommend to friends.

[Claire Holroyde]

Dickey’s third novel begins in the thick of the action as two best friends reunite during a planetary evacuation of the world’s wealthy. Searching for loved ones in a desperate Northern Midwest, they band together with other survivors trying to keep hold of humanity.

Lovers of women’s fiction will connect to the inner worlds of Lilly and Maggie in the past and present: Lilly’s experience as a mother; Maggie falling deeply in love despite herself and dire circumstances. Their emotional journeys are also packed with the high-stakes adventure of staying together—and staying alive.

[Suzy Krause]

Across the Earth and Sky is undoubtedly Elissa Grossell Dickey's best novel yet. She takes the reader on a propulsive, apocalyptic journey across the prairies, where there is danger at every turn but also so much unexpected beauty and joy. Simultaneously action-packed and thoughtful, hopeless and hopeful, set on earth and in space with the best and worst of humanity fully on display, Across the Earth and Sky is a gorgeous meditation on motherhood, family, and life in all of its extremes. Absolutely beautiful.

[Elle Marr]

Riveting and heartfelt, ACROSS THE EARTH AND SKY hit me like an asteroid, plowing past my expectations and setting me on fire. I loved this story and was moved to tears more than once by its complex characters, themes of family and found family, and realistic dystopian imagery. Dickey delivers on every level. Get your copy!

[Erin Rosa]

Oh my lord. When I tell you this book TOOK ME FOR A RIDE. I went through a lot of emotions — anger, frustration, excitement, wanting to keep turning pages but knowing I needed to sleep. This book is overall really fun, and also quite emotional! I cried!

Now here's what I really enjoyed, as someone who doesn't usually read sci-fi. I really loved the female friendship at the heart of this book.

Okay, those are my big thoughts! Please don't make us go to live on the moon!