NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Spool of Blue Thread—a funny, joyful, brilliantly perceptive journey deep into one Baltimore family’s foibles, from a boyfriend with a red Chevy in the 1950s up to a longed-for reunion with a grandchild.
“A quietly subversive novel, tackling fundamental assumptions about womanhood, motherhood and female aging.” —The New York Times Book Review
The Garretts take their first and last family vacation in the summer of 1959. They hardly ever leave home, but in some ways they have never been farther apart. Mercy has trouble resisting the siren call of her aspirations to be a painter, which means less time keeping house for her husband, Robin. Their teenage daughters, steady Alice and boy-crazy Lily, could not have less in common. Their youngest, David, is already intent on escaping his family's orbit, for reasons none of them understand. Yet, as these lives advance across decades, the Garretts' influences on one another ripple ineffably but unmistakably through each generation.
Full of heartbreak and hilarity, French Braid is classic Anne Tyler: a stirring, uncannily insightful novel of tremendous warmth and humor that illuminates the kindnesses and cruelties of our daily lives, the impossibility of breaking free from those who love us, and how close—yet how unknowable—every family is to itself.
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE
Named Best Book of the Year by Oprah Daily • NPR • The Times
“French Braid is a moving meditation on the passage of time . . . Five decades into her career, one gets the sense that Tyler is no longer quite so interested in the details. Instead, French Braid offers something subtler and finer, the long view on family . . . For all its charm, French Braidis a quietly subversive novel, tackling fundamental assumptions about womanhood, motherhood and female aging.” —Jennifer Haigh, New York Times Book Review(cover)
“Brilliant . . . Captivating . . . The rich melody of French Braid offers the comfort of a beloved hymn . . . In novel after novel, Tyler catches the mingled strains of affection and exasperation that tie a family together, the love that persists somewhere between laughing and singing.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post
“If Anne Tyler isn’t the best writer in the world, who is?” —BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour
“Tyler’s gift is that each story, each character is distinct, even as she builds on themes from one book to the next.” — NPR/All Things Considered
“French Braid proves once again that nobody can write about small family moments quite like she can.” —Real Simple
“Few writers are so widely loved and respected as the creator of ‘family novels,’ a genre Tyler has perfected . . . Her fans will be delighted . . . This is Tyler at her most Tyler-ish.” —The Times (London)
“Lovely . . . The characters’ hopes and struggles are relatable, and the novel shines with Tyler’s signature compassion and comfort.” —TIME
“Any Tyler book is a gift . . . Thoroughly enjoyable . . . Funny, poignant, generous, not shying away from death and disappointment but never doomy or overwrought, it suggests there’s always new light to be shed, whatever the situation, with just another turn of the prism.” —Observer
“The wonder of French Braid is the easygoing fluidity with which Tyler jumps and floats between characters and decades to create what in the end is a deftly crafted family portrait that spans some 70 years . . . We read in fascination.” —Christian Science Monitor
“French Braid is a family saga of uncommon subtlety and grace, a novel which shows that, at 80, Anne Tyler is still amongst the very best writers around.” —The Spectator
“Tender and acute . . . French Braid is a novel full of compassion for the human condition by a writer confident enough not to pin everything down and to trust her story to work its quiet magic.” —Financial Times
“Full of piercing observation.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Subtle and powerful . . . A multi-layered and masterly exercise in sympathy and understanding.” —Times Literary Supplement
“A beautiful novel of family life as it unfolds over the years . . . There are many authors today who try to emulate her technique, but none of them comes close to the lightness of touch, the accuracy of her ear, or the profundity of her vision . . . Perhaps [her novels] will eventually come to be seen as one vast, panoramic portrait of life in one particular place, at one particular time, as accurate and resonant as similar series by Balzac or Trollope.” —Daily Mail
“Enchanting . . . Though centered in Baltimore, the story nonetheless reaches out beyond it, just as the characters, deceivingly simple, reveal truths about life that are anything but.” —Washington City Paper
“Lushly imagined, psychologically intricate, virtually inhalable . . . At every leap, Tyler balances gracefully between tenderness and piquant humor, her insights into human nature luminous. Tyler is a phenomenon, each of her novels feels fresh and incisive, and this charming family tale will be honey for her fans.” —Booklist(starred)
“Well-crafted . . . Affecting . . . As always, Tyler offers both comfort and surprise.” —Publishers Weekly
“Entrancing . . . Nobody writes better about families than Anne Tyler . . . She has the lightest touch . . . Tyler has that rare ability to do much with what seems little, to bring the ordinary and usually unregarded lives of ordinary people to life and make them matter.” —The Scotsman
“More lovely work from Tyler, still vital and creative . . . In her 24th novel, Tyler once again unravels the tangled threads of family life. This familiar subject always seems fresh in her hands because Tyler draws her characters and their interactions in such specific and revealing detail . . . [She] understands that the domestic world can contain the universe.” —Kirkus Reviews
