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New York Times bestseller • The acclaimed author of The Women delivers a moving, funny, and brilliant novel about a mother and daughter—the complex bonds that bind them, the past that tears them apart, and the healing that comes with forgiveness.
“[Kristin] “Hannah is fantastic at delving into the psyche of characters and drawing nuances of emotion.” (Washington Post Book World)
Years ago, Nora Bridge left her marriage, leaving her daughters behind. He has since become a popular radio talk show host and newspaper columnist, popular for his moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedian who uses her famous mother as fuel for her wry, cynical humor. When the newspapers uncover a scandalous secret from Nora’s past, their breakup suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write all about her mother. Ruby returns home under false pretenses to care for a woman she hasn’t spoken to in nearly a decade.
Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place full of childhood memories of love, joy and belonging. There Ruby also meets her first love and her brother. Once, the three of them were best friends, inseparable. Until the summer when Nora was gone and everyone’s heart was broken. . . .
As Ruby writes, what began as a revelation turns into an exploration of her family’s past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise and vulnerable, he is desperate to reconcile with his daughter. As the journal’s deadline approaches and Ruby comes to terms with what appears to her to be a brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and finally look at her mother—and herself—through a woman’s eyes. And finally, he must allow himself to love.
From the publisher
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: November 2, 2004
Language: English
Print length: 448 pages
ISBN-10: 0345483448
ISBN-13: 978-0345483447
Item Weight: 2.31 lbs
Dimensions: 5.14 x 0.92 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #67 in Books (See Top 100 Books) #1 in Drama & Variety Show (Book) #3 in Family Epic #3 in Multigenerational Fiction (Book)
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (49,028) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative(‘acrLink-click-Link’, ” ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) , function (event) { if (window.ue) ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) {ue.count(“acrClickStars”,nkClickStars, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0))