Evensong

'Always, [O'Nan] is a master at quotidian details, a master at human emotion. Always, he writes with a huge and generous heart. Evensong is tender and funny, poignant and true. The novel is a little miracle' Boston Globe







The Humpty Dumpty Club is distraught when their powerhouse leader, Joan Hargrove, takes a bad fall down the stairs, knocking her out of commission. Now, as well as running errands and shepherding those less able to their doctors' appointments, they have to pick up the slack.





Between navigating their own relationships and aging bodies and attending choir practice, these invisible yet indomitable women help where they can. Weaving together the perspectives of the four cardinal members as they tend to those in need, Stewart O'Nan has fashioned a rich and moving novel that celebrates our capacity for patience and care. Vivid, warm and often wryly funny, Evensong reminds us that life is made up of moments both climactic and quotidian, and we weather those moments with the people we choose to keep close.



Stewart O'Nan is the author of numerous books, including Wish You Were Here, Everyday People, In the Walled City, The Speed Queen and Emily, Alone. His novel Last Night at the Lobster was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where he lives with his family.



The elegiac atmosphere gives the novel a universal and timeless feel...few writers evoke everyday pleasures and niggling troubles as successfully as O'Nan



A reminder that the quotidian that makes up most of our lives can be just as compelling as any drama



Always, [O'Nan] is a master at quotidian details, a master at human emotion. Always, he writes with a huge and generous heart. Evensong is tender and funny, poignant and true. The novel is a little miracle



Unsentimental yet deeply moving: more wonderful work from the versatile, masterful O'Nan



O'Nan once again finds extraordinary resonance in the lives of ordinary people...[he] proves that he has no peers when it comes to evoking the quotidian challenges and routines of daily life



Fans of Kent Haruf's Our Souls at Night and Elizabeth Strout's Olive, Again will appreciate the dignity O'Nan affords his characters as they navigate both the dramatic and the mundane moments in their lives



What a great writer is Stewart O'Nan, and Evensong is one of his best: A beautifully structured, wonderfully nuanced story of a quartet of women negotiating friendships, rivalries, cats and dogs, frailty and even new love as they slide into old age...Excellent and unforgettable