The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus: A Read with Jenna Pick
A Novel
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4.0 • 139 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY
“Undeniably delicious.” —The New York Times
“A spellbinding debut about friendship, motherhood, first love, and the choices that bind us. . . I couldn't put it down!” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Summer Will Be Different
A witty, atmospheric, and brilliantly told novel that offers compelling portraits of womanhood, motherhood and female friendship, along with the irresistible intrigue surrounding an extraordinary British family
Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s—now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox—lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time . . .
As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life. A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus asks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The college years are a time of growth, disruption, mystery, romance, and finding your place in the world—and this charming coming-of-age novel captures it all. (Sorry to Remarkably Bright Creatures fans: There’s not much about octopuses.) It’s 2006 and lifelong besties Pen and Alice are entering the University of Edinburgh. Pen’s there, in part, to uncover a family secret: Her parents were once so close to a best-selling Scottish novelist that she was named after him, but they’ve since grown estranged and she doesn’t know why. As Pen finds herself drawn into the novelist’s kindly family, the distance between her former life and future possibilities becomes more pronounced. Debut author Emma Knight expertly balances multiple points of view while capturing both the majestic beauty of the Scottish landscape and the quirky peculiarities of the local dialect.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cookbook author Knight (How to Eat with One Hand) makes her fiction debut with a touching tale of a student's romantic entanglements and family secrets. Penelope "Pen" Elliot Winters arrives at the University of Edinburgh from Toronto. While in Scotland, she looks up aristocrat Elliot Lennox, from whom she believes her parents derived her middle name. Her father, Ted, was friends with Elliot and Elliot's sister, Margot, at university, and Elliot now lives with his wife, Christina, at their crumbling family castle, while Margot is a fashion designer in London. Elliot and Christina invite Pen to their estate, where she meets their oldest son, Sasha, who is frequently in the tabloids as he finishes his final year at St. Andrews, and with whom Pen feels an instant attraction. As Pen frets over her virginity and worries what others think of her, she grows closer to the entire Lennox clan, including Margot's daughter and grandson. But after a second trip to the castle ends with the cold shoulder from Sasha and revelations about their families' connections, Pen confronts her naivety and tries to "make peace with herself." Though the cast is a bit too crowded, making the story hard to follow, Pen's intelligence and charm carry the reader along. The result is a satisfying coming-of-age story.
Customer Reviews
Lovely
A wonderful read. 🧡
Enjoyed
Loved the story, enjoyed getting to know all the characters, good, and not so good.
My regards to Jenna Bush Hager
Life Cycle Of Octopus hmm it’s a
interesting story i could imagine
being tangled in between the
tentacles where in my life folds