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The Half Moon

The Half Moon

Summary

The highly-anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author


For fans of Sorrow and Bliss and The Paper Palace


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'Best Book of 2023' in Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, People, Book Page, Literary Hub



'I could not put this book down' MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER


'Compelling, touching, exquisitely crafted' LIANE MORIARTY


'Prepare to lose yourself in this book' SARA COLLINS


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There are two sides to every story. . .



Malcolm is a bartender at the Half Moon in Upstate New York. He has always dreamed of owning a bar, and so when his boss finally retires, he seizes his chance, despite his wife's protests.



Jess has devoted herself to her law career. After years of trying for a baby, she's struggling to accept the idea that motherhood might not be in her future. She finds herself slipping away from both her career and her marriage.



When a blizzard hits on the same day that Malcolm learns some shocking news about Jess, and a regular at the bar goes missing, everyone is frozen in place for a single, pivotal week, forcing Malcolm and Jess to confront their uncertain future.


The Half Moon carefully explores a marriage in crisis, what it takes to make a life with another person, and the true meaning of family.


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**An Indie Next Pick and Amazon Editor's Pick**


'A quietly marvellous story of dreams, disappointments and second chances, but, mostly, love' CHARMAINE WILKERSON, New York Times bestselling author of BLACK CAKE


'It's such a pleasure to sink into Keane's quietly luminous prose . . . she manages to find the extraordinary grace in our achingly ordinary world' NEW YORK TIMES


'Her insights into matters of the heart, longing and restlessness especially, have astonishing delicacy' US VOGUE


'Allows us to look around our own lives with respect and kindness, and is therefore a great gift' ANN NAPOLITANO

Reviews

  • Mary Beth Keane writes to the heart of the human heart. She shows us how love can deepen, how love can stall - hang in the sky like a half moon, waxing and waning in the same moment, equal parts shadow and light. I could not put this book down'
    Miranda Cowley Heller, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Paper Palace

About the author

Mary Beth Keane

Mary Beth Keane attended Barnard College and the University of Virginia, where she received an MFA. She was awarded a John S. Guggenheim fellowship for fiction writing, and has received citations from the National Book Foundation, PEN America, and the Hemingway Society. Born in the Bronx to parents from the west of Ireland, she currently lives in New York, with her husband and their two sons. She is the author of The Walking People, Fever, and most recently, Ask Again, Yes, which spent eight weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. To date, translation rights to Ask Again, Yes have sold in twenty-two languages. The Half Moon is her fourth novel.
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