Women and Children First
A Novel
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3.2 • 30 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“How often do you finish a novel, only to find yourself flipping back to the first page and thinking, I really ought to start that all over again? . . . Set in a struggling New England town, the novel unfolds through interlocking stories—something like Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge or Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad . . . a rich and textured book, with shades not only of those female authors, but also Mary Gaitskill or Lorrie Moore, through its investigation into female agency, power, and vulnerability.” —Vogue.com
A gripping literary puzzle that unwinds the private lives of ten women as they confront tragedy in a small Massachusetts town.
Nashquitten, MA, is a decaying coastal enclave that not even tourist season can revive, full of locals who have run the town’s industries for generations. When a young woman dies at a house party, the circumstances around her death suspiciously unclear, the tight-knit community is shaken. As a mother grieves her daughter, a teacher her student, a best friend her confidante, the events around the tragedy become a lightning rod: blame is cast, secrets are buried deeper. Some are left to pick up the pieces, while others turn their backs, and all the while, a truth about that dreadful night begins to emerge.
Told through the eyes of ten local women, Grabowski’s Women and Children First is an exquisite portrait of grief and a powerful reminder of life’s interconnectedness. Touching on womanhood, class, and sexuality, ambition, disappointment, and tragedy, this novel is a stunning rendering of love and loss, and a bracing lesson from a phenomenal new literary talent that no one walks this earth alone.
A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Debutiful, Oprah Daily, and Vogue • A Most Anticipated Book of Spring 2024 by the New York Times
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A tragedy in a small New England town brings out the best and worst in a circle of women in this deeply felt read. When teenaged Lucy dies at a house party, the entire coastal town of Nashquitten, Massachusetts, is shaken, but the grief hits hardest for the women she was close to. Some in this group can only deal with the tragedy by blocking out why it happened, but others are determined to uncover the dark truths surrounding Lucy’s death—and expose them. In her stunning debut novel, Alina Grabowski masterfully captures the range of emotions provoked by the shocking loss, as well as the 10 remarkably distinct voices of the varied survivors. As she beautifully depicts each perspective, Grabowski leads us closer to a truth that may sever the last bonds of the small seaside town, weaving Women and Children First into a heartbreaking story that kept us reading late into the night.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grabowski's magnetic debut takes place in Nashquitten, Mass., a fictional seaside town south of Boston, where the death of a high school student sends ripples through the community. Each of the two sections, titled "Pre" and "Post," are narrated alternately by various women and teenage girls from Nashquitten before and after Lucy Anderson dies from a fall at a party. In the "Pre" chapters, Jane, a classmate of Lucy's, is having a secret affair with their math teacher. Layla, the school's academic adviser, spends time helping Lucy's best friend, Sophia, tweak her college application essay. Mona, Layla's roommate, works at a fish market with Marina, a teenager who witnesses Lucy's death. The tragedy raises questions for these and other characters: Did Lucy slip? Was she pushed? Did she have a seizure, given her history with epilepsy? The "Post" chapters offer potential answers while also mapping out the way Lucy's death reshapes the lives of those around her. Sophia shakes off her timidness as a new friendship blossoms with Jane, who remains hung up on their math teacher, and Lucy's mother tries to find closure. The ennui of small-town life is perfectly captured in the slice-of-life vignettes, which coalesce into a riveting set of Rashomon-style retellings. Grabowski shows immense promise.
Customer Reviews
Fascinating read
Alina Grabowski has beautifully captured life in a small town and how the townspeople are intertwined. While each vignette is an individual storyline, the mainline theme around their interconnectedness stays present.
Planning on reading this one again to pick up on what I might’ve missed. The book is quite detailed.