Description
A lonely widow outside Baltimore fills her days with the steady music of ticking clocks—until she hires Elizabeth, a lanky, awkward young woman to replace the handyman she has dismissed. As Elizabeth settles into the Emerson household, her presence ripples through a family defined by routines, secrets, and the complicated loyalties that bind parents and grown children. With Anne Tyler’s signature blend of quiet humor and piercing emotional observation, the novel explores how people try to repair their lives—sometimes by winding time forward, sometimes by confronting what they’ve been avoiding. Beneath the charm of domestic detail lies a deeper meditation on grief, belonging, and the small, human choices that determine whether a home becomes a refuge or a trap.
Available Editions
paperback
Vintage
Published Mar 5, 1987
256 pages
ISBN: 9780099469605
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Details
First Published
1972
Language
eng
Content Warnings
No content warnings identified.