"Compulsively readable.... Hanauer has a poet's eye for detail and a spot-on sense of the specifics of mothering in the suburbs."
-- Jennifer Weiner
Description
Thirty-five-year-old Elayna Leopold lives with her young family in suburban New Jersey. Working from home so that she can raise her six-year-old daughter, Hazel, while her husband, Paul, puts in long hours as a corporate lawyer, Elayna is typical of women who spend their twenties chasing dreams in the city only to spend their thirties chasing children in the suburbs. Yet no one knows better than she that life can change in an instant. Two years ago her infant son died, sending her into a deep depression from which she is just emerging. Awakening now to the idea that she can want more than simply to get through the day, Elayna finds herself suddenly -- thrillingly -- craving life's passions again. When she meets Kevin, a young artist with whom she begins to spend more and more time during Paul's absences, Elayna discovers a version of herself she thought was gone forever. As she uncovers yearnings that could destroy everything she cherishes, a threat to Hazel emerges from an unlikely source, making Elayna's choices and decisions that much more critical.
Reviews
"[A] skillfully imagined, bittersweet portrait of marriage and sacrifice."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Intelligent and engaging, Sweet Ruin examines the fallout from grief and the intricacies of family, while weighing the comforts of the prosaic against the tantalizing allure of the new."
-- People
"The dialogue is effortlessly pitch-perfect, the characters leap to fascinating life, and every scene unfolds with complexly intertwined sexual suspense and emotional resonance."
-- Kate Christensen, author of The Epicure's Lament