Imprint: Penguin
Published: 29/03/2018
ISBN: 9780241973400
Length: 272 Pages
RRP: £8.99
'There's a trick to time. You can make it expand or you can make it contract. Make it shorter or make it longer . . .'
Some moments you want to last forever. Some moments shape a life.
For Mona, it's the joy of playing on a Wexford beach as a young girl, next to her family's cottage overlooking the Irish sea. The thrill of moving to Birmingham with a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding-house. Meeting the love of her life; a whirlwind marriage; a sudden, tragic loss.
But now, decades later, Mona is determined to find happiness before it's too late. She knows that every moment is precious. But can we ever let go of the past that shaped us?
'Devastatingly emotional. De Waal's storytelling gives us the poetry and sorrow of life itself' Financial Times
'Weaving tragedy and joy, big themes and the minutiae of life, this is a love story to take on the classics' Emerald Street
'An emotionally sure-handed novel exploring harrowing terrain with deft sensitivity' Sunday Times
Imprint: Penguin
Published: 29/03/2018
ISBN: 9780241973400
Length: 272 Pages
RRP: £8.99
Weaving tragedy and joy, big themes and the minutiae of life, this is a love story to take on the classics
[An] emotionally sure-handed novel exploring harrowing terrain with deft sensitivity
The "trick to time" is that it can expand or contract at will, and in creating a mature heroine with decades of history, De Waal has herself performed a feat of skilful comprehension
It's slight but engaging. The style is simple yet artful
An unforgettable tale of grief and life-long love
Moving and enlightening
A beautifully written, exquisitely crafted story of love, grief and the quiet courage it takes to survive great loss
A story that's full of care; even in its saddest moments it is tender and kind. It feels like a book about all the best parts of being human, about family and friendship, and the way that loss only hurts the way it does because it's grounded in love.
Tender with a fierce undercurrent of tension and heartbreak
A beautiful book