Landslide
A novel
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3.8 • 32 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
This beautiful portrait of a family in a fishing village in Maine is "a fresh look at marriage, motherhood, and the wondrous inner lives of teenagers. A truly beautiful and unforgettable love story of a family on the brink” (Lily King, author of Writers & Lovers). A must-read from the critically acclaimed author of Elsey Comes Home.
“I loved Landslide. You are right there with them in a fishing village in Maine, feeling the wind, the sea, the danger. Smart, honest, and funny, this is a story you won't forget.” —Judy Blume, best-selling author of In the Unlikely Event
After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys—"the wolves"—alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: money is tight; her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day; her eldest, Charlie, is preoccupied with a new girlfriend; and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn't as stable as she once believed. As one disaster gives way to the next, she begins to think that it's not enough to be a caring wife and mother anymore—not enough to show up when needed, to nudge her boys in the right direction, to believe everything will be okay. But how to protect this life she loves, this household, this family?
With remarkable poise and startling beauty, Landslide ushers us into a modern household where, for a family at odds, Instagram posts, sex-positivity talks, and old fishing tales mingle to become a kind of love language. It is a beautiful portrait of a family, as compelling as it is moving, and raises the question of how to remain devoted when the eye of the storm closes in.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Conley's immersive latest (after Elsey Comes Home), a self-aware mother whose fisherman husband is laid up in a Nova Scotia hospital struggles to keep it together while looking after her two teenage sons. The Archers were experiencing money problems even before an engine explosion on Kit's boat left him with a broken leg and internal bleeding. Kit's recuperation proceeds slowly, while Jill, a documentary filmmaker, feels increasingly unequal to the challenges of parenting their boys or as she calls them, "the wolves" in the family's home on a small island in Maine. Jill's anxiety grows when 17-year-old Charlie says he wants to move in with his girlfriend's family and 16-year-old Sam posts photos of himself smoking pot on Instagram. Meanwhile, Jill suspects Kit of having an affair with a female shipmate. Charlie and Sam tell Jill to "chill," but chilling proves impossible when Sam, who has been talking about running away, disappears after being suspended from school. Jill's film in progress about Maine's declining fishing industry adds to her doubts about the future. While the ending feels a bit too tidy, Conley is at her best capturing Maine's coastal terrain as well as Jill's emotional turmoil. Through her disarmingly authentic family portrait, Conley speaks volumes about changing ways of life.
