Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . .
When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.
Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.
After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.
Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity, Fly Away Home is an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.
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Publishers Weekly
Weiner (Best Friends Forever) weaves a forgettable family drama with three weakly connected storylines: mother Sylvie Woodruff long ago sacrificed herself to become the perfect politician's wife, but the revelation of her husband's infidelity sends her off to reconnect with her old self. Her daughters aren't faring any better: recovering addict Lizzie is pursuing an interest in photography, but a childhood incident continues to trouble her; and dutiful older daughter Diana, an ER doctor, is escaping her blandly offensive husband via her own affair. The three women's crises function in parallel, and Weiner is unable to keep the narrative tension going when she hops from one character to another, largely because their issues are so tidily resolved and the women are never in real emotional danger--Sylvie's husband's affair is a "one-day story," Lizzie's narcotic slip is to take a couple of Advil PM (and an apology resolves the unresolved past), and the breakdown of Diana's marriage is dispatched as easily as Diana making a resolution to change her life. The lack of conflict and strong characters, and the heavy dose of brand names and ripped-from-the-headlines references, make this disappointingly disposable. (July)
From the Publisher
Unflappably fun… Hilarious… In Jennifer Weiner's luscious new novel, Fly Away Home, a political wife's predicament is the catalyst for a highly entertaining story… The message is choosing to live an authentic life. As always, Weiner gives us a woman who stands taller, curvier, and happier when she does just that.” —USA Today"This is summer reading at its best: entertaining and full of insight into relationships and how they change" — People (3.5 out of 4 stars)
"Fresh, nuanced... Weiner wryly and sensitively shows the trade-offs we all make to maintain our relationships." —Parade
“This best-selling author proves again that she writes the best page-turners around.” – Elle
"Witty and smart" —O Magazine
“Fly Away Home is Weiner’s best offering in years. The book is well written, a page turner and timely.” —Associated Press
“The quintessential beach read!” —Columbus Dispatch
"Sharp, hysterical, thoughtful. . .Jennifer Weiner's latest treat hits the spot" —The Providence Journal
“Fly Away Home is the book to pack this summer. The latest from Jennifer Weiner has it all.” — St. Petersburg Times
"Smart and juicy" —Good Housekeeping
"Weiner’s trademark blend of wit and sensitivity distinguishes this timely tale about a family in crisis." —Booklist
“Another hit from Weiner…a quick and engaging summer read”—BookPage
"From the smartest chick-lit author we know...With her signature humor, Weiner humanizes the relationship between a mother and her daughters as they struggle to keep their family together." —Glamour
“The chick-lit superstar is back with a juicy tale that centers around the jilted wife of a philandering senator and her two adult daughters as they try to recover from the scandal.” —Ladies Home Journal
"Lovers of high-quality chick-lit can't seem to get enough of Jennifer Weiner, who leavens the romantic elements of her novels with humour, sophisticated language and insight - not just into the lives of women, but into the social arrangements that govern them" —The Globe and Mail (Canada)
"A satisfying story.... Not all political scandals are created equal. But Weiner's "Fly Away Home" is consistently engaging, a yarn that doesn't depend on breaking news to grab our attention." —The Denver Post
"Weiner remains one of the most clever and funny writers in the chick-lit universe." —The Miami Herald
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