Bøker av Susan Conley

A gorgeous jewel of a novel about a mother caring for her two sons while everything else--her marriage and the fishing industry her New England community relies on--threatens to crumble around her.After a fishing accident leaves her husband hospitalized across the border in Canada, Jill is left to look after her teenage boys--"the wolves"--alone. Nothing comes easy in their remote corner of Maine: Money is tight, her son Sam is getting into more trouble by the day, her eldest Charlie has a new girlfriend, and Jill begins to suspect her marriage isn't as stable as she once believed. As one disaster gives way to the next, she begins to think that it's not enough to be a caring wife and mother anymore--not enough to show up when needed, nudge her boys in the right direction, believe everything will be okay. But how to protect this life she loves, this household, this family? With remarkable poise and startling beauty, Landslide ushers us into a modern household where, for a family at odds, Instagram posts, sex-positivity talks, and old fishing tales mingle to become a kind of love language. It is a stunning portrait of a family, as compelling as it is moving, and raises the question of how to remain devoted when the eye of the storm closes in.

When Susan Conley, her husband, and their two young sons leave their house in Maine for a two-year stint in a high-rise apartment in Beijing, they are prepared to weather the inevitable onslaught of culture shock. But the challenges of living and mothering in an utterly foreign country become even more complicated when Susan learns she has cancer. After undergoing treatment in Boston, she returns to Beijing, again as a foreigner-but this time, it's her own body in which she feels like a stranger. Set against the eternally fascinating backdrop of modern China and full of insight into the trickiest questions of motherhood, this poignant memoir is a celebration of family and a candid exploration of mortality and belonging.

NAMED A POPSUGAR BOOK OF THE YEARWhen Elsey's husband, Lukas, hands her a brochure for a weeklong mountain retreat, she knows he is really giving her an ultimatum: Go, or we're done. Once a successful painter, Elsey set down roots in China after falling in love with Lukas. Now, with two young daughters and unable to find a balance between her identities as artist, mother, and wife, Elsey fills her days worrying, drinking, and descending into boredom and unhappiness. So she agrees to go. There, she meets a group of men and women who will forever alter the way she understands herself, and help her to finally embark on a journey to address her own pain and find her way back to her marriage. Written in a voice at once wry, sensual, blunt, and hypnotic, Elsey Come Home is a modern odyssey and a quietly dynamic portrait of contemporary womanhood.

When Willie Pears arrives in Paris, she’s looking for adventure and to reconnect with her brother, Luke. Even so, when she takes a job teaching at a center for immigrant girls who are all hoping for French asylum, she does not expect to feel so connected to the ups and downs of their lives—or to find romance with their attractive and committed lawyer, Macon. But as Willie learns the girls’ histories, the lines between teaching and mothering quickly begin to blur, leading her to make a risky move that will threaten to upend the life and relationships she’s found.

A sharp, engrossing debut novel with all the warmth and humour of Marian Keyes

Sparkling and funny, this brilliantly written Irish-set tale shows why we think Susan Conley is one to watch