Amanda Eyre Ward Books In Order

Sleep Toward Heaven

In Gatestown, Texas, twenty nine year old Karen awaits her execution on Death Row. In New York, Franny, a doctor the same age, plans her wedding and tries to resist the urge to run. In Austin, Celia, a beautiful young librarian, mourns her lost husband. Over the course of one summer, the three women’s disparate lives intertwine. Karen, Franny and Celia all struggle to find their place in a world where nothing is sure, as they move towards one night that will change them all forever. A heart stopping page turner about love and forgiveness, ‘Sleep Toward Heaven‘ is unforgettable. Praise for ‘Sleep Toward Heaven‘: ‘Ward’s no nonsense, unflinching prose and her complex but never confounding structure make this novel very tough to put down. But her greater triumph is her ability to humanize all these characters’ Pam Houston, ”O’ The Oprah Magazine’. ‘It’s funny and sad and redemptive. Read it now. Thank me later’ Jennifer Weiner, the ‘New York Times’ bestselling author of ‘Good in Bed’ and ‘In Her Shoes’. ‘Women’s Death Row as you have never seen it; hauntingly rich, wise and sharply etched’ James Ellroy. ‘How do we forgive the unforgivable? First time novelist Ward explores this question with a delicate blend of compassion, humour and realism Her spare but psychologically rich portraits are utterly convincing’ ‘Publishers Weekly’.

How to Be Lost

To their neighbours in suburban Holt, New York, the Winters family has it all: a grand home, a trio of radiant daughters and a sense of security in their affluent corner of America. But when five year old Ellie disappears, the fault lines within the Winters family are exposed. Joseph, once a successful businessman, succumbs to his demons. Isabelle retreats into memories of her debutante days in Savannah, Georgia. And Ellie’s bereft sisters grow apart: Madeline reluctantly stays at home, while Caroline runs away. Fifteen years later, Caroline, now a New Orleans cocktail waitress, sees a photograph of a woman in ‘People Magazine’. Convinced that it is Ellie all grown up, Caroline embarks on a search for her missing sister, armed with copies of the photograph, an amateur detective guide, and a cooler of Dixie beer. As Caroline travels through the New Mexico desert, the mountains of Colorado, and the smoky underworld of Montana, she devotes herself to salvaging her broken family. With dark humour and gorgeous prose, Amanda Eyre Ward brings us a spellbinding novel about sisters, family secrets and love. Advance praise: ‘I can imagine comparisons to ‘The Lovely Bones’, but there’s nothing imitative about it. It crosses those literary/commercial boundaries by offering us a terrific story, told in dead on, wonderful prose.’ Ellen Sussman, author of ‘On A Night Like This’. ‘You’ve got a great book in your hands Ward shines here with the same humour and brilliance she showed in her first novel.’ Andrew Sean Greer, author of ‘The Confessions of Max Tivoli’.

Forgive Me

From the acclaimed author of How to Be Lost comes a gorgeous new novel about love, memory, and motherhood.

Nadine Morgan travels the world as a journalist, covering important events, following dangerous leads, and running from anything that might tie her down. Since an assignment in Cape Town ended in tragedy and regret, Nadine has not returned to South Africa, or opened her heart until she hears the story of Jason Irving.

Jason, an American student, was beaten to death by angry local youths at the height of the apartheid era. Years later, his mother is told that Jason’s killers have applied for amnesty. Jason s parents pack their bags and fly from Nantucket to Cape Town. Filled with rage, Jason s mother resolves to fight the murderers pleas for forgiveness.

As Nadine follows the Irvings to beautiful, ghost filled South Africa, she is flooded with memories of a time when the pull toward adventure and intrigue left her with a broken heart. Haunted by guilt and a sense of remorse, and hoping to lose herself in her coverage of the murder trial, Nadine grows closer to Jason s mother as well as to the mother of one of Jason s killers with profound consequences. In a country both foreign and familiar, Nadine is forced to face long buried demons, come to terms with the missing pieces of her own family past, and learn what it means to truly love and to forgive.

With her dazzling prose and resonant themes, Amanda Eyre Ward has joined the ranks of such beloved American novelists as Anne Tyler and Ann Patchett. Gripping, darkly humorous, and luminous, Forgive Me is an unforgettable story of dreams and longing, betrayal and redemption.

From the Hardcover edition.

Love Stories in This Town

From San Francisco to Savannah, Montana to Texas, Amanda Eyre Ward’s characters are united in their fervent search to find a place where they truly belong. Annie, a librarian in a small mining town, must choose between the only home she s ever known and the possibility of a new future. Casey, a suburban New Yorker with a wry sense of humor, braves the dating scene after losing her husband. And in six linked stories spanning a decade of her life, Lola Wilkerson navigates elopement, motherhood, and lingering questions about who she wants to be when she grows up. Whether exploring the fierceness of a mother s love or the consolations of marriage, Amanda Eyre Ward s stories are imbued with humor, clear eyed insight, and emotional richness.