by Joan Silber
First published 2009
Joan Silber weaves together the stories of characters whose paths cross in unexpected ways across continents. A woman in New York finds her life connected to strangers in Thailand. A man's journey through Asia reveals links to people he never knew existed. Each character faces moments of loss and discovery that reshape their understanding of connection and distance. The novel moves between America and Asian settings as these individuals navigate love, disappointment, and the search for meaning. Their separate stories gradually reveal a larger pattern of human connection that spans geography and culture. Silber shows how personal choices ripple outward, touching lives in ways both seen and unseen. The characters learn that the world is simultaneously vast and intimate, that strangers can become central to our stories without our knowledge.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, interconnected-stories
Setting: America, Asia, New York, Thailand
Period: 21st-century
348 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company