Description
AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK
"Extraordinary. Books like this are why I love reading. This novel about marriage and friendship and life and dying is a marvel." —Elin Hilderbrand
“Profound and moving and real.”—Andrew Sean Greer
“Some Bright Nowhere is a novel that draws you in deeply and holds you there. Wonderful.”—Meg Wolitzer
The bestselling, beloved author returns with her first novel in over a decade, an intimate and profoundly moving look at a long marriage and the ways in which a startling request can change a couple’s understanding of who they are, together and apart.
Eliot and his wife Claire have been happily married for nearly four decades. They’ve raised two children in their sleepy Connecticut town and have weathered the inevitable ups and downs of a long life spent together. But eight years after Claire was diagnosed with cancer, the end is near, and it's time to gather loved ones and prepare for the inevitable.
Over the years of Claire’s illness, Eliot has willingly—lovingly—shifted into the role of caregiver, appreciating the intimacy and tenderness that comes with a role even more layered and complex than the one he performed as a devoted husband. But as he focuses on settling into what will be their last days and weeks together, Claire makes an unexpected request that leaves him reeling. In a moment, his carefully constructed world is shattered.
What if your partner’s dying wish broke your heart? How well do we know the deepest desires of those we love dearly? As Eliot is confronted with this profound turning point in his marriage and his life, he grapples with the man and husband he’s been, and with the great unknowns of Claire’s last days.
Ann Packer makes a triumphant return with this powerful novel that is tender and raw, visceral and unexpected. Emotionally vibrant and complex, Some Bright Nowhere explores the profound gifts and unexpected costs of truly loving someone, and the fears and desires we experience as the end of life draws near.
About the Author
Ann Packer is the author of five previous works of fiction, including the bestselling novels The Children’s Crusade and The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, which received the Kate Chopin Literary Award, among many other prizes and honors. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and in the O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies, and her novels have been published around the world. She divides her time among New York, the Bay Area, and Maine.
Praise For…
“This beautifully written story is going to get you thinking about some things that really matter. The story leaves you questioning the obligations of marriage and the difference between male and female friendships, and one of the most significant of questions: How do you want to spend your last days?”
— Oprah Winfrey“A moving meditation on love’s many forms and how a marriage can surprise you—right to the end.” —
People Magazine"Harrowing, but brilliant." -
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“We stay in the mystery of this couple, with its shades and shifts. And in the final pages, with their small, quiet turns, we have the readerly satisfaction of a good ending, that elusive and beckoning goal.” —
The New York Times"Packer sketches the nuances of [Claire and Eliot's] love with a devastating sharpness, poignantly exploring the challenges of facing death with grace." —
The Washington Post"Packer's gorgeous, deeply involving novel is a suspenseful and radiant reckoning with love, sorrow, and the everlasting mystery of death." -
Booklist (starred review)“Packer keeps the reader invested in her thought-provoking exploration of a marriage, as Eliot wonders why Claire doesn’t want him the most as the end of her life draws near. The author’s fans will relish this poignant novel.” —
Publisher's Weekly“A rich, splintered narrative that 'illuminate[s] the unexpected depths of the commonplace.'"—
NPR.org"Readers already know Ann Packer for her acutely sensitive novels of families in crisis, and her latest,
Some Bright Nowhere, . . . takes on the anguish of a long-married couple whose deathbed conversations raise profound questions about love, commitment, and sacrifice." —
The Boston Globe“This novel will mean something to everyone, and for many it will mean so much it will be hard to look directly at…Packer beautifully weaves the things we have all gone through in some capacity, the generational patterns that make us who we are, that make us anxious or defensive or to what degree we handle hard things, while also painting a unique picture of
this couple.” —
The Chicago Review of Books"Some Bright Nowhere is about the things we can't say and don't know about each other, as well as the collateral damage that a terminal disease can inflict on even the best of relationships. It's an odd, beautiful and absorbing little novel about one of the biggest subjects of them all." —
Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air"Packer specializes in domestic dramas that arise from tragic dilemmas for which there are no great solutions. . . . It feels like Packer has a deep understanding of the complex emotions she portrays in
Some Bright Nowhere. And like we’ve been given privileged access to a horrible situation we’d all like to keep confined to the pages of a book." —
The Minnesota Star Tribune"Packer is highly skilled at creating dynamics where moral obligation to others and individual personalities intersect to create drama. . . . An involving read.” — Chicago Tribune
"Extraordinary. Books like this are why I love reading. This novel about marriage and friendship and life and dying is a marvel."
—Elin Hilderbrand, author of The Academy and The Five-Star Weekend“I couldn’t stop reading this heartbreaking, heart-expanding novel, and I wept at the end. Ann Packer writes with courage, humor and insight about what it means to be fully human and what we owe the people we love most. Unforgettable.” -
J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Cliffs and Friends and Strangers"Readers, you will shed tears and talk long into the night about this book. What can we ask of one another? What can we give? What is love in the face of death? Profound and moving and real, Packer has written another stirring account of the heart." -
Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less and Less Is Lost"Some Bright Nowhere is a devastating novel that miraculously floats with the light and life it carries. I read it feverishly; I lived and mourned with its characters." -
Aysegül Savas, author of Long Distance and The Anthropologists"
Some Bright Nowhere is an exquisite gem of a novel, shot through with luminous prose and profound insight into the human heart. Trust me: you’ve never read a novel about marriage—about sacrifice and selfishness and soul-mending hope—quite like this one. I loved it." -
Tania James, author of Loot"
Some Bright Nowhere is a novel that draws you in deeply and holds you there. Ann Packer writes absorbingly about couples, together and apart, and about love, friendship, and the inevitability of saying goodbye. This is a heartbreaking novel that actually made me happy––happy to have known these characters and watched them work through the puzzle at the heart of the story, and to have lived with them in their world as long as I did. It’s a wonderful book." -
Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion"A novel so psychologically insightful it feels dangerous, written in prose beautiful enough to get you drunk. Packer is at the height of her powers here, exploring terrain that feels distinctly new. A profoundly feminist book about the negotiations between men and women in marriage, about the work of caretaking, and about the pain and compromise of loving. A triumph.” -
Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo's Got Money Troubles"One of the most emotionally truthful novels I’ve read in years. Penetrating, humane, funny and wise. One of those rare books that once you’ve finished, comes with you for life." — Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
"Some Bright Nowhere is a searing and profoundly moving portrait of a marriage in extremis. Packer renders the untenable with such exquisite and aching clarity that the reading of this novel is as if living it." — Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Dog of the North
