A REAL SIMPLE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: This “gorgeous novel examines the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship,” following 3 generations of women, each more independent than the last (Real Simple).“Sprawling, beautiful . . . an emotional, poignant look at the ways in which our dreams for ourselves often fall apart, and how even lives that seem quietly lived are filled with profound meaning.” —NYLON

A moving first novel about the power of friendship to change lives, that will remind readers of Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman.Renata, a waitress, has left her boyfriend Bryan without telling him he is about to become a father. She drives cross-country to begin a new life in Boston with her baby son, Charlie, hoping to stay free of emotional entanglements and the associations of a painful childhood. Eleanor, a seventy-eight-year-old widow, finds herself gradually str...

A passionate and tensely pitched tale of first love and idealism set in the Oregon forests.Julie Prince is a top college student, destined for conventional success. But then she falls in love with Neil, a radical graduate student, and abandons her privileged East Coast life to tree-sit in the forests of Oregon. At first it is a romantic field trip; soon, though, Julie finds herself increasingly moved by the magnificence of the endangered forest and, like Neil, inve...

"A compelling, unpredictable narrative that moves beyond its calm suburban setting into darker social and psychological territory…[Matson] is a writer of uncommon wisdom and emotional depth." —Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers and Mrs. FletcherGreg Goodman is a very ordinary guy—a not-very-ambitious school teacher and football coach who takes his attractive wife, Patty, their twin adolescent daughters, and the comfortable ease of their suburba...