NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "Captures the angst and anxiety of
modern life with . . . astute observations about interactions between
the haves and have-nots, and the realities of life among the
long-married."--USA Today
A provocative novel that explores what it means to be a mother, a
wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning, from the #1 New York
Times bestselling author of Miller's Valley and Still Life with
Bread Crumbs.
Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a
charmed life--except when there's a crisis at work, a leak in the roof
at home, or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York
City was once Nora's dream destination, and her clannish dead-end block
has become a safe harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness.
The owners watch one another's children grow up. They use the same
handyman. They trade gossip and gripes, and they maneuver for the
ultimate status symbol: a spot in the block's small parking lot.
Then one morning, Nora returns from her run to discover that a terrible
incident has shaken the neighborhood, and the enviable dead-end block
turns into a potent symbol of a divided city. The fault lines begin to
open: on the block, at Nora's job, and especially in her marriage.
Praise for Alternate Side
"[Anna] Quindlen's quietly precise evaluation of intertwined lives
evinces a keen understanding of and appreciation for universal human
frailties."--Booklist (starred review)
"Exquisitely rendered . . . [Quindlen] is one of our most astute
chroniclers of modern life. . . . [Alternate Side] has an almost
documentary feel, a verisimilitude that's awfully hard to
achieve."--The New York Times Book Review
"An exceptional depiction of complex characters--particularly their
weaknesses and uncertainties--and the intricacies of close relationships
. . . Quindlen's provocative novel is a New York City drama of fractured
marriages and uncomfortable class distinctions."--Publishers
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