For fans of the film The Big Chill, Anne Tyler's Dinner at Homesick Restaurant and Siri Hustvedt's What I Loved, in her fourth novel, Carry the One, Carol Anshaw explores the after effects of one night's terrible trauma on three siblings over 25 years.

In the early hours of the morning, following a wedding reception, a car filled with stoned, drunk and sleepy guests accidentally hits and kills a girl on a dark country road. For the next twenty-five years, the lives of those involved are subtly shaped by this tragic moment.

Through friendships and love affairs, marriage and divorce, parenthood, addiction, and the modest calamities and triumphs of ordinary days, Carry the One shows how one life affects another and how those who thrive and those who self-destruct are closer to each other than we'd expect.

'Here's passion and addiction, guilt and damage, all the beautiful mess of family life. Carry the One will lift readers off their feet and bear them along on its eloquent tide' Emma Donoghue

'Carol Anshaw is one of those authors who should be a household name . . . [a] fine, eloquent novel' USA Today

'If you love Jonathan Franzen, you'll love this compelling book' Entertainment Weekly

Carol Anshaw is the author of Aquamarine, Seven Moves, and Lucky in the Corner. She lives in Chicago.

Visit Carol Anshaw's website.

» Read the opening pages of Carry the One by downloading the Penguin Taster here

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Carol Anshaw - Carry the One

Carol Anshaw introduces her new book Carry the One.