Instant National Bestseller

“A svelte, finely constructed novel, it’s a story of self-sufficient loneliness that seems to defy the conventions of romantic comedy until it finally, gloriously gives in.” —The Washington Post

“Her characters [are] so alive they could be sitting next to you telling you what happened to them last Tuesday—and the ending is a beauty. . . . [A] wise, wonderful book.” —The Guardian

“Tyler’s touch is as delicate, her empathy for human beings and all their quirks as evident in her 25th work of fiction as it was in her first. . . . Sweet, sharp, and satisfying.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Anne Tyler is a cartographer of human behavior, often mapping the border between the simply idiosyncratic and the truly odd. . . . The result is comfortable, satisfying and unconventional.” —Washington Independent Review of Books

“As in Tyler’s previous work . . . the pleasure is in learning how her characters tick. . . . By the end of the story, messy human relationships are proven to be worth all the trouble they cause.” —Publishers Weekly

“Tyler moves the chess pieces, or those figures on top of the wedding cake if you’d prefer, with aplomb. And Baltimore has never looked better. . . . Tyler has lost none of her power to enchant.” —New York Journal of Books