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Your next favorite book
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by Sarah Winman
The remarkably life-affirming novel from the highly acclaimed author of Still Life, set in 1940s Cornwall following the unlikely friendship between an eighty-nine-year-old woman at the end of her story and a young soldier, reeling from World War II, at the start of his own.
Marvelous Ways has lived alone alongside a winding creek near the rugged Cornwall coast for nearly all her life, and has recently taken to spending her days sitting on the steps of her caravan with a pair of binoculars. She is waiting for something, but she's not sure what. She will know when she sees it and that is good enough for her.
Francis Drake, a young soldier adrift after the death of a fellow comrade, is grateful for the mission that guides his days. He has agreed to fulfil his friend's last wish: to hand-deliver a letter to his father in Cornwall. But Francis's journey doesn't go as planned. After a brief, sweet, and serendipitous reunion with a woman from his past, Francis washes up in Marvelous's creek, broken both in body and spirit.
Marvelous will come to his aid, and an unlikely friendship will grow between these two solitary souls. Marvelous has lived a long life, with many loves and countless stories to tell, and Francis needs a reason to keep going—even just the hope that life still has more to offer.
A beautiful, bighearted story that bursts with the magic of what it means to grab hold of connection and purpose when it is right in front of you, A Year of Marvelous Ways is a testament to friendship and another timeless classic from the acclaimed Sarah Winman.
"Winman melds historical fiction and magical realism in this irresistible fairy tale set in post-WWII Cornwall...Effortlessly woven into the narrative, which contains an indelible sense of place, are other characters who were saved by Marvelous, and Winman gradually reveals their hidden griefs and joys. This is one to savor." —Publishers Weekly
"Winman's prose is descriptive in a way that often feels lush...readers who crave poetic language and plenty of metaphors, this dreamlike story may be just what they're looking for. A heartbreaking but redemptive story about an unlikely friendship." —Kirkus Reviews
"Once again, Winman delivers historical fiction that memorably evokes the sweetness and sorrow of times past." —Library Journal
This information about A Year of Marvelous Ways 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.
Sarah Winman is the author of When God Was a Rabbit, A Year of Marvelous Ways, Tin Man, and Still Life.
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