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A Novel

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About this listen

The tensions in a tight-knit neighborhood - and a seemingly happy marriage - are exposed by an unexpected act of violence in this provocative new novel from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Miller’s Valley and Still Life with Bread Crumbs.

Some days 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 harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. Then one morning she returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the neighborhood, and the fault lines begin to open: on the block, at her job, especially in her marriage. With humor, understanding, an acute eye, and a warm heart, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning.

©2018 Anna Quindlen (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Marriage Heartfelt Witty
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I was disappointed in this book as I usually enjoy this author. I felt the whole story line never really got going and I struggled to find the point of the plot. The characters other than Nora were poorly developed and unconvincing and the plot uninteresting. At times the language was good but overall I was disappointed

Never quite got going

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Anna Quindlen is a fine writer but this novel was such a snorefest. It was so tedious that in the end, determined not to abandon it, I listened to it in bed. Every single time I drifted off to the land of nod so quickly!

There’s no plot, no intrigue, just a bunch of dull, middle-aged New Yorkers living in a gentrified pocket of Manhattan. But you never get so much as a bagel crust, it could’ve been set in any city where property has become a commodity.

I didn’t care what happened to any of the characters either. The one bright spot was Ellen Archer’s narration which is exquisite.

A cure for insomnia

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