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A drama of murder, love, and redemption set in Nova Scotia in the final year of World War I.
It's l9l8. The war in Europe grinds on, and the Spanish flu seems to be on an insatiable killing spree. But in the small fishing village of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, a more confined drama―harrowing and provocative―slowly unfolds. It begins when Elizabeth Frame murders her husband hours after their wedding and thrusts the revolver into the blowhole of a beached whale.
Crime reporter Toby Havenshaw is dispatched by the Halifax Evening Mail to cover the hearing, and his diary subsequently follows the surprising twists and turns of Elizabeth Frame's flight from the law, accompanied as she is by a love-besotted court stenographer. But Toby's diary also paints a vivid and deeply affecting portrait of his marriage to Amelia, a surgeon just returned from the front lines in France and Belgium. When a child is born to Elizabeth Frame on the lam, Amelia is drawn into events in ways she could never have imagined. And then everything changes.
Come to the Window explores a question both universal and timeless: How does one recover hope in a time of great bewilderment and grief?
"Norman has written what is at heart a tender book, sensitive to the surprising nature of relationships, the depths of personal trauma, and the capacity of affection to alleviate the pain. A well-turned story suffused with Norman's trademark melancholy." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"With sensitive attunement to the grief and uncertainty of the postwar years, Norman constructs an engrossing period piece that speaks to the present moment without losing sight of the engrossing crime at its center. This is humane, original, and easy to devour in a single sitting." —Publishers Weekly
"Have you ever gone to hear live music and when the first note sounds you say, 'Wow'? And when the performance is over, you look at your partner and say, 'Holy shit.' That's Come to the Window. The art, the flow, the wisdom of this work are unmatched. This is Howard Norman at his best." ―Percival Everett
"Simply put, Come to the Window is a powerful, daring, eloquent and in all ways splendid novel." ―Richard Ford
This information about Come to the Window was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Nancy Crampton
Howard Norman was twice a finalist for the National Book Award. He is the author of Come to the Window, The Bird Artist, What Is Left the Daughter, My Darling Detective, and other novels. He received a Lannan Award in literature. He lives in East Calais, Vermont.
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"Of all the stories that argue and speculate about Shakespeare's life … here is a novel … so gorgeously written that it transports you." —The Boston Globe
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