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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
A lot
Study-guide content lists name gun violence — Claudette keeps a rifle for the photographers who find her — alongside death and general trauma
Language
A lot
Multi-voice contemporary narration with regular profanity, especially in Daniel's sections
Sexual Content
A lot
Adult relationships, a fame-era history and a former partner's pregnancy; frank but not explicit
Substance Use
Very heavy
Daniel's alcohol addiction and a relapse on prescription drugs are a sustained thread and one of the book's flagged content warnings
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Content lists name eating disorders (StoryGraph flags this as graphic), abortion, grief and trauma
What this book is about
Claudette Wells walked out of her career and disappeared; Daniel Sullivan, a New York linguist teaching in Ireland, married her. When Daniel hears a radio broadcast about a woman he knew in 1986, the marriage starts to come apart and the novel scatters across decades, continents and a dozen narrators.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Alcohol and prescription drug addiction
Graphic eating disorder content
Abortion clinic scenes
Gun violence
Reader Verification
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