Women and Children First (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781638930785)

"While a young woman's violent death sounds like the setup for a murder mystery story, in Grabowki's deft hands, it becomes something richer and more surprising: an opportunity to capture the people left in her wake at their most honest, flawed, and insightful. Once you get into these women's heads, they will never get out of yours." --Oprah Daily

A gripping literary puzzle that unwinds the private lives of ten women as they confront tragedy in a small Massachusetts town.

Nashquitten, MA, is a decaying coastal enclave that not even tourist season can revive, full of locals who have run the town's industries for generations. When a young woman dies at a house party, the circumstances around her death suspiciously unclear, the tight-knit community is shaken. As a mother grieves her daughter, a teacher her student, a best friend her confidante, the events around the tragedy become a lightning rod: blame is cast, secrets are buried deeper. Some are left to pick up the pieces, while others turn their backs, and all the while, a truth about that dreadful night begins to emerge.

Told through the eyes of ten local women, Grabowski's Women and Children First is an exquisite portrait of grief and a powerful reminder of life's interconnectedness. Touching on womanhood, class, and sexuality, ambition, disappointment, and tragedy, this novel is a stunning rendering of love and loss, and a bracing lesson from a phenomenal new literary talent that no one walks this earth alone.

"I am a big fan of Women and Children First . . . Alina Grabowski is an astute and limber narrative artist and I could read her prose all day long and never grow weary." --Lorrie Moore, author of A Gate at the Stairs

Author: Alina Grabowski
ISBN-10: 1638930783
ISBN-13: 9781638930785
Publisher: Zando - Sjp Lit
Language: English
Published: 05/07/2024
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.30w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/09/2023
Booklist 11/01/2023 pg. 51
Library Journal Prepub Alert 12/01/2023 pg. 3
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/2024