One True Thing

Quindlen, Anna

ISBN 10: 0613174208 ISBN 13: 9780613174206

Synopsis

A mother.  A daughter.  A shattering choice.

From Anna Quindlen, bestselling author of Black and Blue, comes a novel of life, love and everyday acts of mercy.

"A triumph."
--San Francisco Chronicle

About this title

Review

Quindlen hits a nerve with One True Thing, which captures an experience seldom dealt with in popular culture. Though the heroine, Ellen Gulden, is a golden girl with two brothers who'll lose her career the instant she steps off the fast track, society concurs with her dad, who says, "It seems to me another woman is what's wanted here."

The book is a mother-daughter tale that should please fans of, say, The Joy Luck Club. It's not flashy, but it has a deep feel for the way children often discover, just before it's too late, who their parents really are. "Our parents are never people to us," Ellen writes, "they're always character traits.... There is only room in the lifeboat of your life for one, and you always choose yourself, and turn your parents into whatever it takes to keep you afloat." The mercy-killing subplot isn't gripping, but the palpable sense of deepening family intimacy certainly is. --Tim Appelo

Review

"A very good novel indeed - the relationship between mother and daughter is a triumph. This novel deserves to be bought, read and kept." (Elizabeth Jane Howard)

"One True Thing is so uncomprimising in its portrait of life and death, so honest in its rendering of love and loss, that it is simply impossible to forget." (Alice Hoffman)

"Quindlen's extraordinary moving novel is about family responsibilities, compassion, and growing up." (Daily Mail)

"Not a word or an emotion is out of place." (Sunday Times)

"...a brave and beautiful book." (The Times)

Edition details

• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0613174208
• ISBN 13: 9780613174206
• Binding: Library Binding