Instructions for a Heatwave (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780345804716)

An unforgettable narrative--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait and Hamnet--of a family falling apart and coming together with hard-won, life-changing truths about who they really are.

"Strange weather brings out strange behavior." London, 1976. In the thick of a record-breaking heatwave, Gretta Riordan's newly retired husband has cleaned out his bank account and vanished. Now, for the first time in years, Gretta calls her children home: Michael Francis, a history teacher whose marriage is failing; Monica, whose blighted past has driven a wedge between her and her younger sister; and Aoife, the youngest, whose new life in Manhattan is elaborately arranged to conceal a devastating secret.

In a story that stretches from the Upper West Side to a village on the coast of Ireland, Maggie O'Farrell explores the mysteries that inhere within families, and reveals the fault lines over which we build our lives.

Author: Maggie O'Farrell
ISBN-10: 0345804716
ISBN-13: 9780345804716
Publisher: Vintage
Language: English
Published: 05/06/2014
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.55lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.10w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 08/10/2014 pg. 28