Synopsis
In this highly anticipated novel from the bestselling author of The Descendants, a grieving mother struggles to overcome her son’s death, when a strange girl enters her life with a secret that changes them both forever.
From New York Times bestselling author Kaui Hart Hemmings comes the highly anticipated follow-up to The Descendants.
IN THE IDYLLIC SKI TOWN of Breckenridge, Colorado, Sarah St. John is reeling. Three months ago, her twenty-two-year-old son, Cully, died in an avalanche. Though single, Sarah is hardly alone in her grief. Her father, a retiree, tries to distract her with gadgets from the QVC home shopping channel. Sarah’s best friend offers life advice by venting details of her own messy divorce. Even Cully’s father reemerges, stirring more emotions and confusion than Sarah needs. Still, Sarah feels she is facing the stages of grief—the anger, the sadness, the letting go—alone.
Barely ready to face the fact she will never again hear the swoosh of her son’s ski pants, or watch him skateboard past her window, Sarah is surprised when a strange girl arrives on her doorstep. Unexpected and unexplained, she bears a secret from Cully that could change all of their lives forever.
Kaui Hart Hemmings highlights the subtle poignancies of grief and relationships in this stunning look at people faced with impossible choices in the wake of a tragedy. With the unsentimental and refreshingly wry style famous for presenting trouble in paradise in The Descendants, Hemmings in The Possibilities considers the difficult questions of what we risk to keep our loved ones close.
Review
""The Possibilities" stands on its own, and despite its popular appeal, Hemmings' second novel has literary chops too....The inconsistency of humanity is gorgeous and sad and exhilarating, and Hemmings captures it as well as she ever has."
--"Chicago Tribune"
"As she did in "The Descendants" (2007), Hemmings deftly deploys her idyllic setting, leavens tragedy with humor, avoids sentimentality, and offers characters whom readers will find very appealing."
"Booklist" (starred review)"
No question this talented writer owns paradise.
"Houston Chronicle""
"["The Possibilities"] is engagingly direct and unsentimental, somehow familiar yet richly, astutely observant and reflective. Hemmings has created a vivid, memorable group of flawed yet likable kindred spirits in whom we become deeply invested, charmed by the realistic rhythms and irreverent non sequiturs of their lively conversations." "The Boston Globe""
"The Possibilities" stands on its own, and despite its popular appeal, Hemmings' second novel has literary chops too .The inconsistency of humanity is gorgeous and sad and exhilarating, and Hemmings captures it as well as she ever has.
"Chicago Tribune""
"Kaui Hart Hemmings novel is a graceful, subtle primer on freedom the means by which we free (and forgive) ourselves, our parents, and our children, as well as the almost unbearable getting-of-wisdom by which we free our beloved dead. The Possibilities is familiar to us, in all its wit and intelligence, because we know the characters. We are the characters."
Susanna Moore, author of The Life of Objects"
A strong second showing for readers who enjoy modern characters, some laughs, and a good cry. Library Journal"
A grieving mother tries to make peace with her son s death in this wry and heartwarming second novel from the author of The Descendants With a deft and dry humor, Hemmings tackles the unique and unexpectedly humorous ways in which one is expected to mourn a treatise on parenthood. Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
No question this talented writer owns paradise.
Houston Chronicle"
Hemmings has dreamed up a beguiling assortment of characters Funny, insightful and unsentimental, the book confirms that yes, people drive each other crazy much of the time, but as often as they fail, they never stop trying to rise to the occasion.
People (4 stars)"
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