This beautiful novel shows us how families cope with the most painful kind of loss and reminds us that even as grief fractures, it can pave the way for unexpected grace -- Ann Packer, author of Songs Without Words Waldman knits [relationships] together with the pleasing simmetry of a doily. ...She also constructs an impressive parallel between the vocations of shipbuilding and playing a stringer instrument. ...Readers will enjoy the ride -- The New York Times Book Review Excellent. ...A compelling, unique story. ...Grabs the reader right away -- San Francisco Chronicle Waldman writes with practiced skill. ...It's a love story, a tragedy, a family saga, as well as a novel about class conflict that pits two stubborn, controlling women against one another -- The Boston Globe Terrific. ...Waldman's prose style is lovely and fresh. ...This book made me happy, and happy to be alive -- Pat Conroy A thoroughly gripping and elegantly written story about love, grief, friendship, and the unexpected ways in which disaster brings families together. -- Khaled Hosseini, bestselling author of THE KITE RUNNER and A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS "Articulately plumbs the depths of the parent-child bond with clarityand intense feeling." -- USA Today With the careful attention of a movie director, Waldman renders apanoramic scene of a wedding... Lyrical descriptions. -- The Philadelphia Enquirer

Ayelet Waldman is the author of RED HOOK ROAD and The New York Times bestseller BAD MOTHER: A CHRONICLE OF MATERNAL CRIMES, MINOR CALAMITIES AND OCCASIONAL MOMENTS OF GRACE. Her novel LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS was made into a film starring Natalie Portman. Her personal essays have been published in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Vogue, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. She and her husband, the novelist Michael Chabon, live in Berkeley, California, with their four children. www.ayeletwaldman.com Twitter @ayeletw Facebook www.facebook.com/ayeletwaldman