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Lydia is having a party - it's a party she hosts every year for six women friends who treasure the midwinter bash. Over a table laden with a feast of food and wine, the women revel in sharing newsy updates, simmering secrets, and laughter. As this particular evening unfolds, Lydia prepares to make a shattering announcement.
As we follow these friends through their party preparations, we meet flawed but lovable characters who are navigating the hassles of daily chores while also meditating in stolen moments on their lives, their regrets, their complicated relationships, and their deepest desires. When Lydia's announcement shocks them all, they rediscover the enduring bonds of friendship and find their lives changing in unexpected ways.
Tender, wryly funny, and exquisitely written, Lydia's Party poignantly considers both the challenges of everyday life and of facing our fears while creating characters whose fears, foibles, and feistiness will capture readers' hearts.
"Starred Review. Hawkins's novel is beautiful... and the plot takes a number of unexpected, hugely enjoyable turns. It is this kind of book: the kind one buys extra copies of to pass out to friends." - Kirkus
"Sumptuous... a repast that's alternately uncomfortable and soothing, weepy and jubilant, evocative and realistic." - Publishers Weekly
"As Lydia and her circle pull together in her time of need, Hawkins considers the profound gift of friendship and the ways art and life converge to forge meaning and preserve truth and memories." - Booklist
"This is an uncomplicated read that skims the surface of heady topics but doesn't take the full plunge. Although Hawkins's protagonists are well drawn and interesting, more exposure to each of them would have helped readers understand their motives better." - Library Journal
"Like Carol Shields's Larry's Party, a completely winning book about friendship, an elusive and almost never written about subject, which makes this a rare achievement." - Diane Johnson, author of Le Divorce and Flyover Lives
"Lydia's Party is a brilliant story, so perfectly told, the characters instantly recognizable and unforgettable, that they take up residence in one's heart. It is destined to be a classic for this generation." - Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Solomon's Oak, Finding Casey, and the forthcoming Owen's Daughter
This information about Lydia's Party 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.
Margaret Hawkins is the author of two previous novels, A Year of Cats and Dogs and How to Survive a Natural Disaster, and a memoir about her sister, After Schizophrenia: The Story of My Sister's Reawakening. She also writes for the Chicago Sun-Times and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
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