Description
After fifty years in London, Alice wants to live out her days in the land of her birth. Her children are divided on whether she stays or goes, and in the wake of their father's death, the imagined stability of the family begins to fray.
Meanwhile, youngest daughter Melissa has never let go of a love she lost, and Michael, now married to Nicole, is haunted by the failed perfection of the past. As Alice's final decision draws closer, all that is hidden between them rises to the surface.
Set against the shadows of a city and a country in turmoil, Diana Evans's ordinary people confront fundamental questions: How should we raise our children? How do we do right by our parents? And how, in the midst of everything, can we satisfy ourselves?
Endorsements
'Heart and humour in abundance... exquisite' — The Times
'A gorgeous novel from one of our most outstanding writers' — Bernardine Evaristo
'Diana Evans is fast proving herself a novelist to rank alongside Anne Tyler' — Daily Mail
'A warm but devastating narrative... Like any Evans novel, it is unputdownable' — Harper's Bazaar
New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2023 — The New York Times
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
Selected in Best Reads of 2023 by The Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, Harper's Bazaar, New Statesman and Good Housekeeping
Waterstones Book of the Year — Waterstones
The Bookseller Editor's Choice — The Bookseller
New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice — The New York Times Book Review
Starred review — Kirkus Reviews
Guardian Book of the Day — The Guardian
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