Evensong

An intimate, moving novel that follows a group of women of a certain age who band together to help one another and their circle of friends as they face the challenges of their golden years.

The Humpty Dumpty Club is distraught when their powerhouse leader, Joan Hargrove, takes a bad fall down the stairs, knocking her out of commission. Now, as well as running errands and shepherding those less able to their doctors' appointments, they have to pick up the slack.

Between navigating their own relationships and aging bodies and attending choir practice, these invisible yet indomitable women help where they can. Weaving together the perspectives of the four cardinal members as they tend to those in need, Stewart O'Nan has fashioned a rich and moving novel that celebrates our capacity for patience and care. Vivid, warm and often wryly funny, Evensong reminds us that life is made up of moments both climactic and quotidian, and we weather those moments with the people we choose to keep close.

"O'Nan once again finds extraordinary resonance in the lives of ordinary people...[he] proves that he has no peers when it comes to evoking the quotidian challenges and routines of daily life" ― Publishers Weekly