When the World Was Steady – A Novel - Softcover

Messud, Claire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393355098 ISBN 13: 9780393355093

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017

Synopsis

In this highly acclaimed novel, life isn't all Emmy and Virginia Simpson anticipated. When Emmy's marriage ends, she flees her home in Sydney to "find herself" on the island of Bali--only to become embroiled with a crew of international misfits and smugglers. Her prim and pious sister Virginia, meanwhile, has never wandered far outside of London. Struggling to find meaning, Virginia follows her aging mother's advice to vacation on the Isle of Skye. On these two islands halfway around the world, the middle-aged sisters confront the costs of self-knowledge and their destinies with unexpected consequences.

About this title

Review:

Assured and engaging.--James Marcus

A beautiful, bittersweet story about the painful cost of self-knowledge and the unpredictability of life.

A tenderly ironic double portrait of two hapless middle-aged English sisters who travel to very different islands.--Joyce Carol Oates

As exceptional in quality as it is in content...an outstanding first novel.

Book Description:

An exploration of the divergent lives of two sisters, Virginia and Emmy, and how, in middle age, both find themselves facing crises.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0393355098
• ISBN 13: 9780393355093
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368