It's been five years since the Mason family vacationed at the lakeside cottage in northeastern Vermont, close to where prize-winning novelist Samuel Mason grew up. The summers that Sam, his wife, Mena, and their twins Franny and Finn spent at Lake Gormlaith were noisy, chaotic, and nearly perfect. But since Franny's death, the Masons have been flailing, one step away from falling apart. Lake Gormlaith is Sam's last, best hope of rescuing his son from a destructive path and salvaging what's left of his family. As Sam struggles with grief, writer's block, and a looming deadline, Mena tries to repair the marital bond she once thought was unbreakable. But even in this secluded place, the unexpected–in the form of an over-zealous fan, a surprising friendship, and a second chance–can change everything. From the acclaimed author of Two Rivers comes a compelling and beautifully told story of hope, family, and above all, hunger–for food, sex, love and success–and for a way back to wholeness when a part of oneself has been lost forever. Praise For T. Greenwood's Two Rivers «A dark and lovely elegy, filled with heartbreak that turns itself into hope and forgiveness. I felt so moved by this luminous novel.» –Luanne Rice, New York Times bestselling author «T. Greenwood's writing shimmers and sings. . .» –Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of Belong to Me and Love Walked In «A memorable, powerful work.» –Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain «Greenwood is a writer of subtle strength, evoking small-town life beautifully while spreading out the map of Harper's life, finding light in the darkest of stories.» – Publishers Weekly «A sensitive and suspenseful portrayal of family and the ties that bind.» –Lee Martin, author of The Bright Forever and River of Heaven «A haunting story. . .Ripe with surprising twists and heartbreakingly real characters. . .remarkable and complex.» –Michelle Richmond, New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Fog and No One You Know «A complex tale of guilt, remorse, revenge, and forgiveness. . . Convincing. . . Interesting. . .» – Library Journal " Two Rivers is the story that people want to read: the one they have never read before." –Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg
T. Greenwood, acclaimed author of Two Rivers and The Hungry Season, crafts a moving, lyrical story of loss, atonement, and promises kept. One November morning, Ben Bailey walks out of his Flagstaff, Arizona, home to retrieve the paper. Instead, he finds Ricky Begay, a young Navajo man, beaten and dying in the newly fallen snow. Unable to forget the incident, especially once he meets Ricky's sister, Shadi, Ben begins to question everything, from his job as a part-time history professor to his fiancée, Sara. When Ben first met Sara, he was mesmerized by her optimism and easy confidence. These days, their relationship only reinforces a loneliness that stretches back to his fractured childhood. Ben decides to discover the truth about Ricky's death, both for Shadi's sake and in hopes of filling in the cracks in his own life. Yet the answers leave him torn–between responsibility and happiness, between his once-certain future and the choices that could liberate him from a delicate web of lies he has spun.
T. Greenwood's extraordinary novels, deftly combining lyrical prose with heartrending subject matter, have earned her acclaim as a «family-damage specialist» (Kirkus). Now she explores one year in a family poised to implode, and the imperfect love that may be its only salvation.Every family photograph hides a story. Some are suffused with warmth and joy, others reflect the dull ache of disappointed dreams. For thirteen-year-old Trevor Kennedy, taking photos helps make sense of his fractured world. His father, Kurt, struggles to keep a business going while also caring for Trevor's aging grandfather, whose hoarding has reached dangerous levels. Trevor's mother, Elsbeth, all but ignores her son while doting on his five-year-old sister, Gracy, and pilfering useless drugstore items. Trevor knows he can count on little Gracy's unconditional love and his art teacher's encouragement. None of that compensates for the bullying he has endured at school for as long as he can remember. But where Trevor once silently tolerated the jabs and name-calling, now anger surges through him in ways he's powerless to control. Only Crystal, a store clerk dealing with her own loss, sees the deep fissures in the Kennedy family–in the haunting photographs Trevor brings to be developed, and in the palpable distance between Elsbeth and her son. And as their lives become more intertwined, each will be pushed to the breaking point, with shattering, unforeseeable consequences.
Startling and fresh. . .ripe with originality. – San Diego Union-Tribune Three years after leaving Lake Gormlaith, Vermont, Effie Greer is coming home. The unspoiled lake, surrounded by dense woods and patches of wild blueberries, is the place where she spent idyllic childhood summers at her grandparents' cottage. And it's where Effie's tempestuous relationship with her college boyfriend, Max, culminated in a tragedy she can never forget. Effie had hoped to save Max from his troubled past, and in the process became his victim. Since then, she's wandered from one city to another, living like a fugitive. But now Max is gone, and as Effie paints and restores the ramshackle cottage, she forms new bonds–with an old school friend, with her widowed grandmother, and with Devin, an artist and carpenter summering nearby. Slowly, she's discovering a resilience and tenderness she didn't know she possessed, and–buoyed by the lake's cool, forgiving waters–she may even learn to save herself. Wrenching yet ultimately uplifting, here is a novel of survival, hope, and absolution from a writer of extraordinary insight and depth. «Greenwood is a writer of subtle strength.» – Publishers Weekly Praise For T. Greenwood's Breathing Water "A poignant, clear-eyed novel. . .filled with careful poetic description." – The New York Times Book Review "A vivid, somberly engaging book." –Larry McMurtry"Greenwood sensitively and painstakingly unravels her protagonist's self-loathing and replaces it with a graceful dignity." – Publishers Weekly "With its strong characters, dramatic storytelling, and heartfelt narration, Breathing Water should establish T. Greenwood as an important young novelist who has the great gift of telling a serious and sometimes tragic story in an entertaining and pleasing way." –Howard Frank Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg "Impressive." – Booklist
T. Greenwood's new novel is a powerful, haunting tale of enduring love, destructive secrets, and opportunities that arrive in disguise . . .In Two Rivers, Vermont, Harper Montgomery is living a life overshadowed by grief and guilt. Since the death of his wife, Betsy, twelve years earlier, Harper has narrowed his world to working at the local railroad and raising his daughter, Shelly, the best way he knows how. Still wracked with sorrow over the loss of his life-long love and plagued by his role in a brutal, long-ago crime, he wants only to make amends for his past mistakes. Then one fall day, a train derails in Two Rivers, and amid the wreckage Harper finds an unexpected chance at atonement. One of the survivors, a pregnant fifteen-year-old girl with mismatched eyes and skin the color of blackberries, needs a place to stay. Though filled with misgivings, Harper offers to take Maggie in. But it isn't long before he begins to suspect that Maggie's appearance in Two Rivers is not the simple case of happenstance it first appeared to be.
Dark and compassionate, graceful yet raw, Undressing the Moon explores the seams between childhood and adulthood, between love and loss. . .At thirty, Piper Kincaid feels too young to be dying. Cancer has eaten away her strength; she'd be alone but for a childhood friend who's come home by chance. Yet with all the questions of her future before her, she's adrift in the past, remembering the fateful summer she turned fourteen and her life changed forever. Her nervous father's job search seemed stalled for good, as he hung around the house watching her mother's every move. What he and Piper had both dreaded at last came to pass: Her restless, artistic mother, who smelled of lilacs and showed Piper beauty, finally left. With no one to rely on, Piper struggled to hold on to what was important. She had a brother who loved her and a teacher enthralled with her potential. But her mother's absence, her father's distance, and a volatile secret threatened her delicate balance. Now Piper is once again left with the jagged pieces of a shattered life. If she is ever going to put herself back together, she'll have to begin with the summer that broke them all. . . "Undressing the Moon beautifully elucidates the human capacity to maintain grace under unrelenting fire." – Los Angeles Times