Author: Sue Miller
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Sue Miller
Publication Date: September 8, 2020
Book Description: A brilliantly insightful novel, engrossing and haunting, about marriage, love, family, happiness and sorrow, from New York Times bestselling author Sue Miller.
Graham and Annie have been married for nearly thirty years. A golden couple, their seemingly effortless devotion has long been the envy of their circle of friends and acquaintances.
Graham is a bookseller, a big, gregarious man with large appetites—curious, eager to please, a lover of life, and the convivial host of frequent, lively parties at his and Annie’s comfortable house in Cambridge. Annie, more reserved and introspective, is a photographer. She is about to have her first gallery show after a six-year lull and is worried that the best years of her career may be behind her. They have two adult children; Lucas, Graham’s son with his first wife, Frieda, works in New York. Annie and Graham’s daughter, Sarah, lives in San Francisco. Though Frieda is an integral part of this far-flung, loving family, Annie feels confident in the knowledge that she is Graham’s last and greatest love.
When Graham suddenly dies—this man whose enormous presence has seemed to dominate their lives together—Annie is lost. What is the point of going on, she wonders, without him?
Then, while she is still mourning him intensely, she discovers that Graham had been unfaithful to her; and she spirals into darkness, wondering if she ever truly knew the man who loved her.
Rating: 4 1/2 Stars
Review: Annie and Graham have been married for many years. When Graham suddenly dies, Annie is left reeling and trying to figure out what their life meant together and what her future will look like without him.
Sue Miller writes an introspective novel told from Annie’s Point of View along with a few supporting characters. Annie and Graham when they meet are both coming out of divorces. They soon settle into a comfortable life with each other and their children.
Their marriage seems simple and good at the core. However, not everything is what it seems. After Graham’s death, Annie discovers that there was a major crack in that core, which leaves what this book is about, Annie reflecting and questioning everything that occurred in her life since she meet Graham.
This is a very quiet novel that will make you think and take stock in your lives. Very beautiful story, and so glad I got to read this.
Obsessed Bookaholic 