Description

The highly-anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author

For fans of Sorrow and Bliss and The Paper Palace

___________

‘Best Book of 2023’ in Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, People, Book Page, Literary Hub

‘I could not put this book down’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER

‘Compelling, touching, exquisitely crafted’ LIANE MORIARTY

‘Prepare to lose yourself in this book’ SARA COLLINS

___________

There are two sides to every story. . .

Malcolm is a bartender at the Half Moon in Upstate New York. He has always dreamed of owning a bar, and so when his boss finally retires, he seizes his chance, despite his wife’s protests.

Jess has devoted herself to her law career. After years of trying for a baby, she’s struggling to accept the idea that motherhood might not be in her future. She finds herself slipping away from both her career and her marriage.

When a blizzard hits on the same day that Malcolm learns some shocking news about Jess, and a regular at the bar goes missing, everyone is frozen in place for a single, pivotal week, forcing Malcolm and Jess to confront their uncertain future.

The Half Moon carefully explores a marriage in crisis, what it takes to make a life with another person, and the true meaning of family.

___________

**An Indie Next Pick and Amazon Editor’s Pick**

‘A quietly marvellous story of dreams, disappointments and second chances, but, mostly, love’ CHARMAINE WILKERSON, New York Times bestselling author of BLACK CAKE

‘It’s such a pleasure to sink into Keane’s quietly luminous prose . . . she manages to find the extraordinary grace in our achingly ordinary world’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘Her insights into matters of the heart, longing and restlessness especially, have astonishing delicacy’ US VOGUE

‘Allows us to look around our own lives with respect and kindness, and is therefore a great gift’ ANN NAPOLITANO

Publisher Review

Mary Beth Keane writes to the heart of the human heart. She shows us how love can deepen, how love can stall - hang in the sky like a half moon, waxing and waning in the same moment, equal parts shadow and light. I could not put this book down' -- Miranda Cowley Heller, author of Sunday Times bestseller The Paper Palace I fell in love with The Half Moon from the first page, and barely looked up until I'd finished. Mary Beth Keane has written another brilliantly absorbing novel about complicated marriages and family dynamics - how they shape us, yes, but how they undo us as well. Prepare to lose yourself in this book -- Sara Collins, bestselling author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton Mary Beth Keane is one of our finest writers on the interior complexities of marriage and family. She shines a flashlight on the intricate clockwork of love and longing that runs inside us; and because of the thoughtfulness of that examination, beauty and possibility are visible. I ran my finger over sentences while reading, thinking: Yes, exactly. This kind of fiction recognizes us, and allows us to look around our own lives with respect and kindness, and is therefore a great gift -- Ann Napolitano, author of New York Times bestseller Dear Edward Keane writes in a sturdily realist vein-the vivid, domesticated world of Anne Tyler, of William Trevor, of Elizabeth Strout-but her insights into matters of the heart, longing and restlessness especially, have astonishing delicacy * Vogue US * A masterful novel that tells with great tenderness how love goes wrong and how, with hope, it can be righted. Mary Beth Keane is an unnervingly talented novelist - dead-on brilliant, authentic, full of humour, and possessing a dark and comforting wisdom. The Half Moon is a triumph -- Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game