Sweet Ruin

A Novel

By: Cathi Hanauer

Narrated by: Ellen Archer

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Since editing the New York Times best seller The Bitch in the House, Cathi Hanauer has become the unofficial spokeswoman for the contemporary married woman. Now, in Sweet Ruin, she gives us a story of marital crisis and sexual tension featuring a character close to her heart and recognizable to us all.

Thirty-seven-year-old Elayna Leopold used to be a New York magazine editor, until she and her young family moved to suburban New Jersey. Two years ago, the death of an infant son sent her into a deep depression, a darkness that begins to lift in the company of a handsome, unattached neighbor. As she fights yearnings that could destroy everything that gives her life shape, a threat to her young daughter's welfare emerges from an unlikely source, throwing Elayna's questionable morality into stark relief and forcing her to make choices she never dreamed she would have to make.

Smart and gripping, Elayna's story raises heart-rendering questions about the challenges of ordinary life (marriage, career, independence, and sexuality) that have no easy answers. Sweet Ruin is a triumph of contemporary fiction from a writer known for her candor and wisdom.

©2006 Cathi Hanauer (P)2006 Tantor Media Inc

Critic reviews

"Given Hanauer's keen perceptions and delicate sensitivity, one cannot help but acutely feel the emotional and moral turmoil engulfing this winsome young wife and mother." (Booklist)
"Excellent characterizations....Dialogue and the spot-on representation of the family dynamic make this book difficult to put down." (Publishers Weekly)

Great untill ending

I really got into this book, it had a good story and the narrating was great. But I was so disappointed in the ending or should I say lack of ending. I wish the author at written one more chapter.

Best so far this year!

Wow! And you thought 30 somthing year old Mommys had a boring life? The characters and plot are so very realistic. This really could happen and probably does every day. Don't be shocked... this ones steamy, but not in a cheesy silly romance novel kind of way.

The narrator was awesome. I did not have to struggle to hear what she was saying, nothing was muffled or distorted by any kind of strong accent. Just very nice smooth voice with the exception of the little girl who tends to be a little whiney for my tastes.

This truly was one of my favorites this year. You may also enjoy Between, Georgia and What Comes After Crazy. All are pretty much in the same genre of womens fiction. Meant for those over 30 years old.

enjoyable

I enjoyed the reader and the story. the characters were authentic.

Lowlife Cheating Wife

She didn’t deserve her husband or her daughter. Hopefully Paul will get a DNA test and divorce her. Selfish and lowdown woman that didn’t deserve a happy ending. She put her child in danger with a pedophile sho she could screw a kid. She was no better than her dad.

pretty dull

Well, I was able to finish it, but it never got better. It wasn't so bad that I stopped listening, but I was really happy when it was done and I could move onto another book. I would not waste your credit on this one.