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A Novel
by Ann Packer
Book Reviewed by:The bestselling, beloved author returns with her first novel in over a decade, an intimate and profoundly moving look at a long marriage and the ways in which a startling request can change a couple's understanding of who they are, together and apart.
Eliot and his wife Claire have been happily married for nearly four decades. They've raised two children in their sleepy Connecticut town and have weathered the inevitable ups and downs of a long life spent together. But eight years after Claire was diagnosed with cancer, the end is near, and it's time to gather loved ones and prepare for the inevitable.
Over the years of Claire's illness, Eliot has willingly—lovingly—shifted into the role of caregiver, appreciating the intimacy and tenderness that comes with a role even more layered and complex than the one he performed as a devoted husband. But as he focuses on settling into what will be their last days and weeks together, Claire makes an unexpected request that leaves him reeling. In a moment, his carefully constructed world is shattered.
What if your partner's dying wish broke your heart? How well do we know the deepest desires of those we love dearly? As Eliot is confronted with this profound turning point in his marriage and his life, he grapples with the man and husband he's been, and with the great unknowns of Claire's last days.
Ann Packer makes a triumphant return with this powerful novel that is tender and raw, visceral and unexpected. Emotionally vibrant and complex, Some Bright Nowhere explores the profound gifts and unexpected costs of truly loving someone, and the fears and desires we experience as the end of life draws near.
1
And then it was over, the final visit to Claire's oncologist. Eliot rose and shook the doctor's hand. Claire inched forward on her chair, grimacing a little as she mustered the strength to stand. Always petite, she had become tiny, her weight down to a distressing ninety pounds. Her hair was about an inch long and clung to her scalp in tight curls.
Dr. Steiner waited until she was steady, then took her hands in his. He said, "It's been a privilege treating you, Claire."
Eliot watched as Claire pursed her lips: preamble to a small witticism. She said, "It's been a privilege being treated by you, Dr. Mark Steiner."
Steiner squeezed Claire's hands and then took a step backward and held out his arm. He wanted them to leave ahead of him, a first.
The corridor was busy and Claire stayed near the wall, pausing every now and then to catch her breath. She needed the bathroom, and Eliot stationed himself opposite a photograph of a mountaintop at dawn that he'd walked past a thousand times and ...
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (12/04/2025)
...lack of quotation marks in dialogue confused me. Last week I read two books focusing on friendship and aging, Evensong by Stewart O'Nan (4 stars) and Some Bright Nowhere by Ann Packer (somewhere between 3-4 stars for me)
-Evonne_Benedict
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/27/2025)
Hi, Kim. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! I am reading Oprah's latest pick - Some Bright Nowhere, by Ann Packer. I don't usually read anybody's pick. But Ann was appearing at Kepler's, and I had already decided to go before I found out her book was an Oprah pick. Having said all of that, I am...
-Lloyd_R
Eight years into a breast cancer journey, Claire has run out of treatment options, and doctors say she has three to six months left. Now she's determined to make her last days the best she can. Emulating her late support group friend Susan Simmons, who gathered women friends and relatives around her for her final two months—creating an atmosphere of "female energy, chatter, tears, laughter"—Claire wants her two best friends, Holly and Michelle, to look after her until her death. However, her request leads to resentment and rivalry, especially for her husband of thirty-five years, Eliot. The contrast between female and male friendship is an underlying theme in the book: Eliot feels awkward confiding in friends, doesn't understand the depth of Claire's connection with Holly and Michelle, and ultimately feels that he has no one he can rely on. Although I wondered how the scope might have been expanded by switching between various points of view, I admired the out-of-the-ordinary approach to the terminal cancer plot...continued
Full Review
(804 words)
(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).
Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less and Less Is Lost
Readers, you will shed tears and talk long into the night about this book. What can we ask of one another? What can we give? What is love in the face of death? Profound and moving and real, Packer has written another stirring account of the heart. Ayşegül Savaş, author of Long Distance and The Anthropologists
Some Bright Nowhere is a devastating novel that miraculously floats with the light and life it carries. I read it feverishly; I lived and mourned with its characters. J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Cliffs and Friends and Strangers
I couldn't stop reading this heartbreaking, heart-expanding novel, and I wept at the end. Ann Packer writes with courage, humor and insight about what it means to be fully human and what we owe the people we love most. Unforgettable.
In Ann Packer's Some Bright Nowhere, a woman asks her best friends to be her caregivers as she's dying of cancer. It's not as uncommon a fictional plot as you might think. Sometimes the relationship precedes the illness; other times the patient/carer dynamic gives way to friendship.
Talk Before Sleep (1994) by Elizabeth Berg
When her best friend Ruth is dying of metastatic breast cancer, Ann coordinates a band of friends to take turns sitting by her bedside and bringing her decadent treats. The passionate risk-taking of Ruth's earlier life contrasts with her current limitations—and with Ann's play-it-safe attitude. Berg celebrates authenticity and the strength of bonds between women in a story inspired by the real-life loss of a...
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On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good and not quite all the time
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