When duty and love collide, a quiet family portrait reveals the cost of sacrifice.
In this intimate novel, a marriage strained by expectation, motherhood, and memory unfolds through Aggie and Arthur’s aching, stubborn love. Their home is a stage for longing, failure, and the stubborn tenderness that keeps them bound to one another.
Set against the backdrop of small losses and unspoken fears, this story follows a couple whose quiet routines mask a deeper ache. As Aggie bears the world’s burdens for the sake of their children, Arthur confronts his own sense of obligation and longing. The result is a stark, compassionate look at the price of devotion and the fragile ties that hold a family together.
- Explore a marriage tested by fatigue, fear, and unspoken guilt.
- Discover how care for children shapes—sometimes constrains—adult love.
- Witness moments of tenderness that survive amid hardship and doubt.
- Experience a domestic drama that questions what sacrifice truly costs.
Ideal for readers drawn to literary fiction that centers on character, family dynamics, and the quiet moral choices of everyday life.
May Sinclair (1863-1946), poet, translator, critic, fiction writer, woman's suffrage advocate, and co-founder of a pioneering psychoanalytic clinic, was one of the most popular female British novelists of the early twentieth century. Her twenty-four novels include "Mary Olivier: A Life and The Three Sisters.
Francine Prose's most recent book is "The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women & the Artists They Inspired. A contributing editor at "Harper's, she is the author of ten books of fiction, including "Blue Angel, a 2000 National Book Award finalist.