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“Rebecca Kauffman writes like a sunbeam, strong and warm on whatever lands in her path. This book only looks short—in reality, it reveals a family so richly drawn, so deep and complex, that it contains the whole world.” —Emma Straub
A modern and classic story of family, with I'll Come to You, beloved author Rebecca Kauffman explores overlapping narratives involving a couple whose struggle to become pregnant has both softened and hardened them, a woman whose husband of forty years has left her for reasons he’s unwilling to share and the man who is now disastrously attempting to woo her, a couple in denial about a looming health crisis, and their son who is fumbling toward middle age and can’t stop lying. Ultimately, these storylines crescendo and converge into a dramatic and harrowing turn of events. With heart, wit, and courage, and through pain, these characters traverse territory that both challenges and defines the bonds of family.
Sweeping yet compact, I’ll Come to You investigates themes of intimacy, memory, loss, grief, and reconciliation, and the wonder, terror, frustration, fear, and magic of brushing up against the unknowable—both around us and within us.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 7, 2025 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781640096721
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781640096721
- File size: 2272 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 23, 2024
This finely tuned family drama from Kauffman (Chorus) takes place over one year in an unremarkable middle American town, as a new grandfather deals with dementia. It’s 1995, and Bruce’s wife, Janet, can’t bring herself to tell their adult children about his cognitive decline. Their daughter, Corrine, finally has a new baby girl after an arduous struggle to conceive with her husband, Paul. Her brother, Rob, meanwhile, can’t accept that his ex-wife has moved on to another relationship. Kauffman also explores fissures in Paul’s family, as Paul resents his father for leaving his mother, Ellen, a sweet, hardworking school bus driver, who’s surprised herself by finding a new boyfriend. After all the characters get together on a snowy, fateful Christmas Eve, the siblings bicker until a life-threatening event forces them to put aside their differences. The author has drawn authentic and believable portraits of these flawed but decent people as they negotiate life’s upheavals. Ellen, whose reward for 35 years of driving a school bus is a $35 Kmart gift certificate, delivers the novel’s poignant epitaph: “I’m gonna get myself together here, then I’ll come to you.” Kauffman’s fans will love this. Agent: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary. -
November 1, 2024
Ellen is increasingly sure that reentering the dating scene at her age is more trouble than it's worth. Everyone already has baggage and a life full of bad habits, inside jokes, and family lore. But she feels drawn to Gary, who seems patient and self-aware and understands that delicate balance between loving your children and being utterly bewildered by them. Weighing the appeal of a fresh start against the labor of getting to know someone new, Ellen and Gary's courtship is refreshingly realistic. Employing an ensemble cast with Ellen and Gary at its core, Kauffman (The House on Fripp Island, 2020) opens the story with the pair's blind date before widening her net to include perspectives from friends and family members and flashbacks to key moments in each family's history, giving extra weight to the formative experiences in each character's life. Tender and charming, I'll Come to You candidly exposes generational gaps in understanding and will appeal to fans of Jonathan Tropper and Amy Jo Burns.COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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