Most Popular Books by Tara Conklin

A stunning New York Times bestselling novel that intertwines the stories of an escaped slave in 1852 Virginia and an ambitious young lawyer in contemporary New York and asks: is it ever too late to right a wrong? Lynnhurst, Virginia, 1852. Seventeen-year-old Josephine Bell decides to run away from the failing tobacco farm where she is a slave and nurse to her ailing mistress, the aspiring artist Lu Anne Bell. New York City, 2004. Lina Sparrow, an ambitious first-year associate in an elite law firm, is given a difficult, highly sensitive assignment that could make her career: finding the "perfect plaintiff" to lead a historic class-action lawsuit worth trillions of dollars in reparations for descendants of American slaves. It is through her father, the renowned artist Oscar Sparrow, that Lina discovers Josephine Bell and a controversy rocking the art world: are the iconic paintings long ascribed to Lu Anne Bell really the work of her house slave, Josephine?A descendant of Josephine''s--if Lina can locate one--would be the perfect face for the reparations lawsuit. While following the runaway house girl''s faint trail through old letters and plantation records, Lina finds herself questioning her own family history and the secrets that her father has never revealed: how did Lina''s mother die? And why will he never speak about her?

From the New York Times–bestselling author of The House Girl comes a novel about our most precious and dangerous attachment: family In the spring of 1981, the young Skinner siblings—fierce Renee, dreamy Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona—lose their father to a heart attack and their mother to a paralyzing depression, events that thrust them into a period they will later call “the Pause.” Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the siblings navigate the dangers and resentments of the Pause to emerge fiercely loyal and deeply connected. Two decades later, the Skinners find themselves again confronted with a family crisis that tests the strength of these bonds and forces them to question the life choices they’ve made and what, exactly, they will do for love. Narrated nearly a century later by the youngest sibling, the renowned poet Fiona Skinner, The Last Romantics spans a lifetime. It’s a story of sex and affection, sacrifice and selfishness, deeply held principles and dashed expectations, a lost engagement ring, a squandered baseball scholarship, unsupervised summers at the neighbourhood pond and an iconic book of love poems. But most of all it is the story of Renee, Caroline, Joe and Fiona: the ways they support each other, the ways they betray each other and the ways they knit back together bonds they have fractured. In the vein of Commonwealth, Little Fires Everywhere and The Nest, this is a panoramic, tenderly insightful novel about one devoted, imperfect family. The Last Romantics is an unforgettable exploration of the responsibilities we bear both gracefully and unwillingly, and the all-important, ever-complex definition of love.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics delivers a wise, timely, big-hearted novel of unplanned isolation and newly forged community. Where does one go, you might ask, when the world falls apart? When the immutable facts of your life—the mundane, the trivial, the take-for-granted minutiae that once filled every second of every day—suddenly disappear? Where does one go in such dire and unexpected circumstances? I went home, of course. MURBRIDGE COMMUNITY MESSAGE BOARD FREE: 500 cans of corn. Accidentally ordered them online. I really hate corn. Happy to help load. REMINDER: use your own goddamn garbage can for your own goddamn pet waste. I’m looking at you Peter Luflin. REMINDER: monthly Select Board meeting this Friday. Agenda items: 1) sludge removal; 2) upkeep of chime tower; 3) ice rink monitor thank you gift. Questions? Contact Hildegard Hyman, [email protected] Darcy Clipper, prodigal daughter, nearly thirty, has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined. But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy’s first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, subsisting on Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned chickpeas, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community? And what does she owe it in return?

Histoire sensible d''une famille américaine sur plusieurs décennies, Les Derniers Romantiques interroge sur les liens indéfectibles qui nous unissent à ceux que nous aimons, à la façon dont on peut perdre et retrouver les êtres aimés. Un best-seller du New York Times, plébiscité par la critique et le public américains. Dans un monde en proie au dérèglement climatique, Fiona Skinner, 102 ans, poétesse de renom, vient de donner sa première lecture publique depuis vingt-cinq ans quand une jeune femme se lève dans l''auditorium. Elle lui dit s''appeler Luna. Luna. Une apparition fantomatique... Un prénom surgi du passé... Alors Fiona se souvient. Au cours de l''été 1981, Reine, Caroline, Joe et Fiona Skinner perdent leur père. Puis assistent, impuissants, à la dérive de leur mère. Âgés de 12 à 4 ans et livrés à eux-mêmes, ils ne sortiront pas indemnes, mais soudés à jamais, de cet été-là – qu''ils appelleront par la suite La Grande Parenthèse. Vingt ans plus tard, surviendra une nouvelle tragédie familiale... Émouvant et ambitieux, Les Derniers Romantiques interroge nos choix de vie, les conséquences qu''ils ont sur notre avenir, et les liens qui nous unissent à ceux que nous aimons.

Können wir die retten, die wir lieben? Im Sommer 1981 verlieren die Geschwister Renee, Caroline, Joe und Fiona ihren Vater. Es folgen Jahre, die als "die Pause" bei den Geschwistern eingehen, da ihre Mutter sich in ihrer Trauer verliert: Diese Jahre, in denen sie einander umsorgen, tagelang durch die Wälder stromern und Fiona, der Jüngsten, das Schwimmen beibringen, stärken das Band zwischen ihnen – doch welche Verletzungen sie davongetragen haben, offenbart sich erst Jahrzehnte später in einer weiteren Tragödie, die die Familie trifft. Die letzten Romantiker ist ein kluges, ergreifendes Familienepos, das die Frage danach ergründet, was uns aneinander bindet, welche Verantwortung wir tragen und wie wir diejenigen, die wir lieben, verlieren – und manchmal wiederfinden – können. »Genau beobachtet, sowohl anspruchsvoll als auch warm.« Meg Wolitzer »Die letzten Romantiker erzählt ganz neu und originell von dem, was uns allen vertraut ist: Familie.« Washington Post »“Die letzten Romantiker“ regt zum Weiterdenken an. Der Schreibstil ist detailreich und gefühlvoll, stellenweise fast poetisch.« Lea Hensen, Berliner Morgenpost, 29.08.2021 »Ein spannender Roman über Liebe, Selbstfindung und Verlust, der zeigt, dass alles, was wir tun, Folgen hat.« Katja Jührend, Brigitte Woman, 01.09.2021 »Klug und sprachlich gewandt dreht sich die Autorin mit oft pointierter Dringlichkeit um die Frage nach der gegenseitigen Verantwortung.« Heilbronner Stimme, 18.09.2021

"Bestseller "New York Timesa" Jedna z najlepszych ksiazek 2013 roku w rankingu goodreads Osadzona w XIX-wiecznej Wirginii i wspolczesnym Nowym Jorku, barwna opowiesc o milosci, historii i sztuce, splatajaca losy dwoch niezwyklych kobiet Lina Sparrow, mloda i ambitna prawniczka zatrudniona w znanej kancelarii na Manhattanie, otrzymuje zadanie, ktore moze ja wywindowac na szczyty palestry: ma przygotowac zbiorowy pozew o wielomilionowe odszkodowania dla potomkow amerykanskich niewolnikow. Podczas zbierania materialow, Lina natrafia na slad Lu Anne Bell, XIX-wiecznej malarki. Czy jej obrazy mogly byc dzielem ciemnoskorej sluzacej, siedemnastoletniej Josephine? Jej potomek bylby idealnym powodem w procesie. Lina postanawia dowiedziec sie czegos wiecej na temat losow mlodej sluzacej i odkrywa kolejne sekrety, dotyczace rowniez jej wlasnej rodziny... W sto szescdziesiata rocznice zniesienia niewolnictwa w USA "Sluzaca" jawi sie jako literackie upamietnienie setek tysiecy niewolnikow poddanych wyzyskowi w poludniowych stanach, a takze jako pelna uroku medytacja nad zagadka wiezi rodzinnych, nadziejami i cierpieniami ludzkiej egzystencji, i odwiecznym pragnieniem wolnosci."--Amazon.com