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The long-awaited novel from the Giller Prize–winning, #1 bestselling author of A Good House—a novel with the power to change the way women, and men, understand one another.A phone call in the night, an unexpected diagnosis—suddenly, life can change forever. sandra, Colleen and Jude have been friends for nearly a lifetime. They share sexual secrets, decorating tips, counsel on marriage, even a hairdresser. Despite their differences and occasional snarls, the friendship only grows stronger over time, and their partners, Jack, Richard and Gus, go along with it, letting this union shape their lives. Now, with sandra’s crisis, everyone must find a way to endure the present and imagine the future. sweeping through and beyond the second half of the 20th century—from men in space to 9/11— the novel creates an astonishingly intimate portrait of three women balanced on the knife edge of middle age.Impossibly, if the men on Mir could look down through their window on the world and see this beach in southern Ontario, in the northern hemisphere of the spinning blue earth, it would be Rachel who caught their attention. Right there, one of them would say, pointing down from the impossible distance. A girl, glowing on that beach. Waving like mad.—From Suddenly
A sudden, life-altering crisis forces three lifelong friends and their partners to confront the fragility of their long-standing bonds. Sandra, Colleen, and Jude have navigated the complexities of marriage, aging, and personal secrets for decades, relying on their shared history as a foundation for their identities. When an unexpected diagnosis disrupts their equilibrium, the narrative shifts from the comfort of routine to the uncertainty of the future. The story employs a sweeping temporal scope, moving through the latter half of the 20th century to the early 21st, examining how individual lives are shaped by both private intimacy and global events.
This novel is characterized by its quiet, observational approach to the intricacies of long-term relationships and the slow accumulation of life experience. The prose focuses on the internal lives of its protagonists, mapping the subtle shifts in their perceptions as they face mortality and change. The narrative structure suggests a deliberate pacing that mirrors the gradual unfolding of the characters' histories rather than relying on rapid plot developments. The work invites readers to consider the weight of shared memories and the ways in which personal crises redefine the boundaries of support within a social circle.
Page Count:
336
Publication Date:
2009-09-22
Publisher:
Phyllis Bruce Books
ISBN-10:
0002254948
ISBN-13:
9780002254946
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