Late in the Day: A Novel
Tessa Hadley
Paperback
(Harper Perennial, Feb. 18, 2020)
âWith each new book by Tessa Hadley, I grow more convinced that sheâs one of the greatest stylists alive.ââRon Charles, Washington PostNew York Times Book Review Editors' Choice |A Parnassus First Editions Club Pick | Powellâs Indispensable Book Club Pick | A Washington Post Notable Book | A Slate Best Book of the Year | A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year | A Bookpage Best Book of the YearThe lives of two close-knit couples are irrevocably changed by an untimely death in the latest from Tessa Hadley, the acclaimed novelist and short story master who ârecruits admirers with each bookâ (Hilary Mantel).Alexandr and Christine and Zachary and Lydia have been friends since they first met in their twenties. Thirty years later, Alex and Christine are spending a leisurely summerâs evening at home when they receive a call from a distraught Lydia: she is at the hospital. Zach is dead.In the wake of this profound loss, the three friends find themselves unmoored; all agree that Zach, with his generous, grounded spirit, was the irreplaceable one they couldnât afford to lose. Inconsolable, Lydia moves in with Alex and Christine. But instead of loss bringing them closer, the three of them find over the following months that it warps their relationships, as old entanglements and grievances rise from the past, and love and sorrow give way to anger and bitterness.Late in the Day explores the complex webs at the center of our most intimate relationships, to expose how, beneath the seemingly dependable arrangements we make for our lives, lie infinite alternate configurations. Ingeniously moving between past and present and through the intricacies of her charactersâ thoughts and interactions, Tessa Hadley once again âcrystallizes the atmosphere of ordinary life in prose somehow miraculous and naturalâ (Washington Post).