by Anne Tyler
First published 2010
Liam Pennywell never wanted to teach fifth grade. He dreamed of philosophy but ended up at a shabby private school until forced retirement at sixty-one. The job loss doesn't upset him. Moving to a streamlined condo outside Baltimore seems like a fresh start. Then Liam wakes up in a hospital bed. His head throbs under thick bandages. The previous night has vanished completely from his memory. He remembers packing boxes and moving into the new place, but everything after that first evening is gone. The missing hours gnaw at him. He needs someone who witnessed what happened, someone who can fill the gap where his memory should be. His search for answers takes him down paths he never expected. Tyler captures the quiet desperation of a man confronting the spaces between what we remember and what actually happens to us.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, mystery, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Baltimore
Period: 21st-century
277 pages · Hardcover · Knopf Publishing Group