Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published in USA
Feb 2016
400 pages
Genre: Novels
Publication Information
A gorgeous and absorbing novel of a trio of confused souls struggling to find themselves and the way forward in their lives, set against the spectacular backdrop of contemporary New York City.
Set in the most magical parts of Manhattan - the Upper West Side, Central Park, Greenwich Village - The Ramblers explores the lives of three lost souls, bound together by friendship and family. During the course of one fateful Thanksgiving week, a time when emotions run high and being with family can be a mixed blessing, Rowley's sharply defined characters explore the moments when decisions are deliberately made, choices accepted, and pasts reconciled.
Clio Marsh, whose bird-watching walks through Central Park are mentioned in New York Magazine, is taking her first tentative steps towards a relationship while also looking back to the secrets of her broken childhood. Her best friend, Smith Anderson, the seemingly-perfect daughter of one of New York's wealthiest families, organizes the lives of others as her own has fallen apart. And Tate Pennington has returned to the city, heartbroken but determined to move ahead with his artistic dreams.
Rambling through the emotional chaos of their lives, this trio learns to let go of the past, to make room for the future and the uncertainty and promise that it holds. The Ramblers is a love letter to New York City - an accomplished, sumptuous novel about fate, loss, hope, birds, friendship, love, the wonders of the natural world and the mysteries of the human spirit.
"Starred Review. Rowley (Life After Yes) once again captures the bright dialog, urban and romantic insecurities, and stylish lifestyle of a group of appealing upper-echelon mid-30s Manhattanites who defy the jaded stereotypes and will have readers rooting for them as they stumble their way to happiness. Irresistible." - Library Journal
"[T]his tale is light on plot, but Rowley's Manhattan provides a vivid and charming setting for her nuanced (if not always sympathetic) characters to evolve." - Publishers Weekly
"Enjoyable if at times overly earnest." - Kirkus
"In this spirited, compulsively-readable, sophisticated tale of entangled urban lives, Aidan Donnelley Rowley has written a love letter to New York, full of sparkling innocence and its ensuing heartache. The Ramblers is a pure delight." - Dani Shapiro, author of Devotion and Still Writing
"Chock full of the crackling wit, irreverent humor and raw honesty [...] A whirlwind foray into the New York City that Aidan Donnelley Rowley knows and loves - and writes - so well." - Allison Pataki, New York Times Bestselling author of The Accidental Empress
"Aidan Donnelley Rowley is an expert at revealing her characters with depth and care." - Mira Jacob, author of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing
"Aidan Donnelley Rowley's finely honed prose creates a New York story that had me enchanted from the first flirtation. It's not often that a book embeds you so deeply with the characters that you feel as if you are in the story." - Lee Woodruff, New York Times bestselling author of Those We Love Most
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Aidan Donnelley Rowley was born and raised in New York City, and is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School, but her dream (long unconscious) was always to write. She is the author of a novel, Life After Yes; blogs at IvyLeagueInsecurities.com; contributes to The Huffington Post; and is the founder and curator of the popular Happier Hours Literary Salons. The middle of five sisters, she lives in New York with her husband and three young daughters.
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