The story of any family is told through the prism of time. Associated PressĮxploring the] dichotomy the imperfections that reside within a polished exterior is Tyler s specialty, and her latest generation-spanning work accomplishes just that, masterfully and monumentally. probably the best novel you will read all year. Well-crafted, utterly absorbing and compelling. 'USA Todayīy the end of this deeply beguiling novel, we come to know a reality entirely different from the one at the start.

'The New York Times Book Review'īy my count I ve now reviewed around fifty books for 'USA Today.' I ve never given any of them four stars until today: to 'A Spool of Blue Thread, ' the masterful twentieth novel by Anne Tyler. She] has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving. Quintessential Anne Tyler, as well as quintessential American comedy. Anne] Tyler remains among the best chroniclers of family life this country has ever produced. From Red s parents, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to the grandchildren carrying the Whitshank legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn house that has always been their anchor.Īn act of literary enchantment.

The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate an indefinable kind of specialness, but like all families, their stories reveal only part of the picture: Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. This is how Abby Whitshank always describes the day she fell in love with Red in July 1959. It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. Join the Random House Reader s Circle for author chats and more. Louis Post-Dispatch The Telegraph BookPage' 'NEW YORK TIMES' BESTSELLER - SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE -NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY 'PEOPLE' AND''USA TODAY'' -NAMEDONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY 'The Washington Post 'NPR 'Chicago Tribune St.

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