{"product_id":"sorrow-and-bliss-9780063049581","title":"Sorrow and Bliss","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhile I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realized that I wanted to send it to everyone I know. -Ann Patchett\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrutal, tender, funny. . . . I saw myself here. I saw the people I love. I am changed by this book. -Mary Beth Keane, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eAsk Again, Yes\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA compulsively readable debut novel--spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark, and tender--about a woman on the edge that combines the psychological insight of Sally Rooney with the sharp humor of Nina Stibbe and the emotional resonance of \u003cem\u003eEleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMartha Friel just turned forty. Once, she worked at \u003cem\u003eVogue \u003c\/em\u003eand planned to write a novel. Now, she creates internet content. She used to live in a pied- -terre in Paris. Now she lives in a gated community in Oxford, the only person she knows without a PhD, a baby or both, in a house she hates but cannot bear to leave. But she must leave, now that her husband Patrick--the kind who cooks, throws her birthday parties, who loves her and has only ever wanted her to be happy--has just moved out.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBecause there's something wrong with Martha, and has been for a long time. When she was seventeen, a little bomb went off in her brain and she was never the same. But countless doctors, endless therapy, every kind of drug later, she still doesn't know what's wrong, why she spends days unable to get out of bed or alienates both strangers and her loved ones with casually cruel remarks. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd she has nowhere to go except her childhood home: a bohemian (dilapidated) townhouse in a romantic (rundown) part of London--to live with her mother, a minorly important sculptor (and major drinker) and her father, a famous poet (though unpublished) and try to survive without the devoted, potty-mouthed sister who made all the chaos bearable back then, and is now too busy or too fed up to deal with her. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut maybe, by starting over, Martha will get to write a better ending for herself--and she'll find out that she's not quite finished after all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harper\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780063049581\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352","brand":"Meg Mason","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38213849972917,"sku":"9780063049581","price":22.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_ff3c1f93-2aa8-486c-a4b7-f163aab8daa3.jpg?v=1610443091","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/sorrow-and-bliss-9780063049581","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}