French Braid

By: Anne Tyler

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Brought to you by Penguin.

The major new novel from the beloved prize-winning author -- a brilliantly perceptive, painfully true and funny journey deep into one family's foibles, from the 1950s right up to the changed world of today

When the kids are grown and Mercy Garrett gradually moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice.

Over at her studio, she wants space and silence. She won't allow any family clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond.

Yet it is a clutter of untidy moments that forms the Garretts' family life over the decades, from giving a child a ride to a painstaking Easter lunch, a fateful train journey to an unexpected homecoming.

And it all begins in 1959, with a family holiday to a cabin by a lake. It's the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations.

'If Anne Tyler isn't the best writer in the world, who is?' BBC RADIO 4 WOMAN'S HOUR

© Anne Tyler 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Critic reviews

Such a perfect work of fiction, you want to turn it over like a tapestry to see how it is done; how Tyler can sew gentle humour into a truly heart-wrenching story, and twist all of life's hurts into a family saga that is ultimately life-affirming, and a brisk and thrilling read. We readers are so lucky a writer like Tyler exists (MEG MASON)

Tyler's sentences are wholly hers, instantly recognisable and impossible to duplicate (HANYA YANIGIHARA)

She is and always will be my favourite author (LIANE MORIARTY)

Anne Tyler really is the best . . . her sheer brilliance makes it all seem so effortless (GRAHAM NORTON)

One of my favourite writers (ALI SMITH)

Fans of Anne Tyler will be delighted by French Braid, a family saga that takes us from the 1950s to the present

A new Anne Tyler novel is an island of certainty in a tumultuous world

A queen of American literature

The ever reliable and delightful Anne Tyler

Lushly imagined, psychologically intricate, virtually inhalable...Tyler balances gracefully between tenderness and piquant humor, her insights into human nature luminous

So lovable

Dear sweet insightful Anne Tyler….. the inner thoughts and observances are spot on. Such a comfortable experience… and narrated perfectly of course. Thank you