The Why of Things by Elizabeth H. Winthrop - ISBN: 9781444755497
Paperback
Grief, suspicion, and connection intertwine after a tragedy rocks a family.

The Why of Things

  • Paperback

    320 pages

  • Release Date

    12 May 2014

Summary

As the summer begins, the Jacobs family arrive at their holiday home in Massachusetts, only to find that a truck has been driven into their water-filled quarry and a young man has drowned. It is a dreadful echo of another recent death: the suicide of Joan and Anders’ eldest daughter.

When details emerge of the man’s identity, fifteen-year-old Eve becomes obsessed with proving that his death wasn’t an accident, while her little sister unwittingly adopts his orphaned dog. Joan is more i…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781444755497
ISBN-10:1444755498
Author:Elizabeth H. Winthrop
Publisher:Hodder & Stoughton
Imprint:Sceptre
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:320
Release Date:12 May 2014
Weight:218g
Dimensions:204mm x 144mm x 22mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

With insight, respect and luminous clarity…This haunting, shimmering novel reminds us how all of us know our families: with unimaginable intimacy, and hardly at all. - Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winner of Far From the Tree

Once again, Elizabeth Winthrop conjures light from a dark place in her beautifully constructed, touching novel. - Christine Schutt, bestselling author of Prosperous Friends

PRAISE FOR DECEMBER:

‘Winthrop is brilliant at depicting the bewildering world and its assault on the senses of a struggling adolescent … This extraordinary novel seduces as it also challenges: curiously provoking and offering small flashes of illumination, like matches struck in that dim and meaningful space on the far side of language.’ - Natalie Sandison, The Times

Like budding artist Isabelle, Winthrop is a master of observation, and her ability to crystallize themes in particular vignettes (fixing a broken phonograph, buying Christmas presents) brings this affecting family drama vividly to life. - Publisher’s Weekly

With insight, respect and luminous clarity … This haunting, shimmering novel reminds us how all of us know our families: with unimaginable intimacy, and hardly at all. - Andrew Solomon

Often, after a tragedy, we wonder how people find the will to put one foot ahead of the other, to somehow move forward. In many ways, Winthrop has written a novel about continuance … her message, as complex as it is simple, is that the unendurable can and will be endured only if one chooses to go on. - New York Times Book Review

Totally engrossing from start to finish. Winthrop’s scene building is captivating, her characterization intricately layered, and her ability to build tension both preternatural and Hitchcockian - the suspense accumulating so subtly that you don’t notice you’re getting wound up ‘til you put the book down to take a break and suddenly your teeth are clenched. - Ploughshares

A fast-paced entertaining summer read. - People

About The Author

Elizabeth H. Winthrop

Elizabeth H. Winthrop was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from Harvard University in 2001 with a BA in English and American Literature and Language, and in 2004 she received her Master of Fine Arts in fiction from the University of California at Irvine. Her stories have appeared in a variety of publications including the Missouri Review and the Indiana Review. Fireworks, her first novel, was published by Sceptre in 2006, and her second, December, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for 2009. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter and St. Bernard.

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