A gracious neighbor A novel

Chris Cander

Book - 2022

"Martha Hale is an affable wife and mother who lives in an affluent neighborhood of well-tended lawns and high expectations. If only her clumsiness at penetrating the social circles of her neighbors weren't making Martha so lonely. That's why she's thrilled when the glamorous Minnie Foster, a former high school classmate, moves in next door. Despite Martha's determination, picking up where they left off is trickier than anticipated--especially when their memories of the past don't always align. But Martha is undeterred. In fact, her preoccupation with Minnie's life, her success, and her marriage is becoming an obsession. When she sees a darkness and shame hiding inside Minnie's perfectly deceptive hom...e, Martha realizes that not even Minnie's secrets are what they seem. Visceral, sharp-witted, and deeply empathetic, A Gracious Neighbor explores the judgments women pass on one another and the ills of a society curated to keep them on the outside looking in" --

Saved in:

1st Floor Show me where

FICTION/Cander Chris
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
1st Floor FICTION/Cander Chris Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Domestic fiction
Novels
Published
New York, N.Y. : Little a 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
Chris Cander (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
281 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781542039178
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

The witty, suspenseful latest by Cander (The Weight of a Piano) reimagines a short story by Susan Gaspell into an account of class, gender roles, and domestic violence. Martha Hale, frumpy and nearly friendless, has had trouble keeping up with her athleisure-clad neighbors in Houston's West University Place neighborhood since moving there 14 years earlier with her sweet but hapless husband. So she's thrilled when her former high school classmate, the elegant and charming Minnie, moves in next door with her hunky plastic surgeon husband, John. As Martha tries to build a friendship with Minnie, she ignores signs that all is not right in Minnie and John's marriage. After some of the gossipy school moms suggest that the couple moved to Houston because of a sex tape scandal involving John, Minnie, with more Nancy Drew fervor than common sense, stages a home invasion in hopes of finding and destroying the tape, and soon finds herself in more danger than she could have anticipated. Cander cleverly combines sharply observed satire, a keen sense of place, and a feminist sensibility. Fans of Liane Moriarty will eat this up. (July)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved