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'Mesmerizing. Quindlen makes her characters so richly alive, so believable, that it's impossible not to feel every doubt and dream they harbour . . . Overwhelmingly moving' New York Times
Anna Quindlen follows her highly-praised novel Miller's Valley – 'reads like a companion to Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge', Elisabeth Egan – with a captivating novel about money, class and self-discovery set in the heart of New York where the tensions in a tight-knit neighbourhood—and a seemingly happy marriage—are exposed by an unexpected act of violence.
There are days when Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life—except when there's a crisis at work, a leak in the roof at home or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York City was once Nora's dream destination and her clannish dead-end block has become a safe harbour, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. The owners watch one another's children grow up. They use the same handyman. They trade gossip and gripes, and they manoeuvre for the ultimate status symbol: a spot in the block's small parking lot.
Then one morning, Nora returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the neighbourhood, and the enviable dead-end block turns into a potent symbol of a divided city. The fault lines begin to open: in their street, at Nora's place of work in a jewellery museum and, most especially, in her marriage.
With an unerring and acute eye that captures beautifully the snap and crackle of modern life, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife and a woman at a moment of reckoning.
'Qualities and shades of love are this writer's strong suit, and she has the unusual talent for writing about them with so much truth and heart that one is carried away on a tidal wave of involvement and concern' Elizabeth Jane Howard
'I'm a big fan of US author Anna Quindlen's sharp writing. Her latest novel, Alternate Side, is a clear-eyed look at a long marriage, written with wit and warmth' Good Housekeeping
'A book about being a mother, a wife and a woman at a moment of reckoning, this is an acutely observed story' Stylist Books
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 20, 2018 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781471175732
- File size: 4322 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781471175732
- File size: 4322 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 5, 2018
Bestseller Quindlen’s provocative novel (after Miller’s Valley) is a New York City drama of fractured marriages and uncomfortable class distinctions. Nora and Charlie Nolan, married 25 years, live in a posh neighborhood in Manhattan. She is a museum director, he’s an investment banker, and both are lodged in a passionless marriage of silent tolerance. Simmering class, economic, and racial tensions boil over when an arrogant, rich white lawyer neighbor hits a local Latino handyman with a golf club for blocking a parking lot entrance. This forces Nora, Charlie, and their neighbors to decide how seriously to take the crime. Suddenly, the neighborhood’s veneer of acceptance and inclusion is peeled away, revealing resentment and bitterness among neighbors and spouses. Nora and Charlie argue openly, revealing just how little they really care about each other and prompting Nora to conclude there are only three kinds of marriages: “happy, miserable, and acceptably unhappy.” Quindlen’s novel is an exceptional depiction of complex characters—particularly their weaknesses and uncertainties—and the intricacies of close relationships.
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