In 1962, in the Soviet Union, eight-year-old Katya is bequeathed what will become the love of her life: a Blüthner piano, on which she discovers an enrichening passion for music. Yet after she marries, her husband insists the family emigrate to America—and loses her piano in the process. In 2012, in Bakersfield, California, twenty-six-year-old Clara Lundy is burdened by the last gift her father gave her before he and her mother died in a terrible house fire: a Blüthner upright she has never learned to play. Now a talented and independent auto mechanic, Clara’s career is put on hold when she breaks her hand trying to move the piano, and in sudden frustration she decides to sell it. Only in discovering the identity of the buyer—and the secret history of her piano—will Clara be set free to live the life of her choosing.

The Weight of a Piano: A novel

Literature & Fiction

Cander, Chris

United States

Vintage

KNOPF

When Roscoe Jones, a one-time trumpet prodigy, loses his finger, he loses more than his ability to play. Instead of becoming a musician, he becomes the superintendent of the Chicago apartment building where he has lived since birth. Very soon, his life is no longer his own; he fades into the background, plumbing and fixing and toiling for the tenants populating the eleven stories above him. Although they hardly notice him as anything but a working part of the building, he develops a sometimes uncomfortable intimacy with the details of their complicated lives. Every night, in the privacy of his basement quarters, alone with his secret longings, he plays his trumpet. That is until the evening he climbs to the roof to play in public for the first time in fifty years — and the course of his life is irrevocably changed. For some, losses may turn, unexpectedly, to gain. For Roscoe, the relationships he forms with the tenants — two, in particular — justify the amputation of his finger and the forfeiture of his dreams. This is a story about sacrifice and service, longing and love — and the abiding hopefulness of the human heart that connects us all. AWARDS Best Indie General Fiction 2013 (Kirkus Reviews) Gold Medal, Popular Fiction, 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Book of the Month, January 2014 (AiA) Silver Medal, Popular Fiction, 2014 eLit Awards

11 Stories

Contemporary

Rubber Tree Press

The Young of Other Animals: A Novel

Genre Fiction

BRILLIANCE AUDIO ^

A Gracious Neighbor: A Novel

Review\n“Cander cleverly combines sharply observed satire, a keen sense of place, and a feminist sensibility. Fans of Liane Moriarty will eat this up.” ―Publishers Weekly\n“A suspenseful tale of relationships, loneliness and what goes on behind closed doors.” ―People\n“A dynamic and insightful storyteller, Cander imbues her work with such poignant character detail, as a reader, I felt I’d all but moved into Martha’s neighborhood. As a documented lover of tales of complicated relationships between women, I must say that A Gracious Neighbor is among the best.” ―Chandler Baker, New York Times bestselling author of The Husbands\n“I couldn’t stop turning these witty, suspenseful pages. What new lengths would the endearing and exasperating Martha go to in her pursuit of friendship? This is a sparkling and deeply satisfying novel.” ―Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field\n“Fast paced and affecting from start to finish, A Gracious Neighbor offers keen insight into modern-day loneliness and takes a good, hard look at what often lurks behind picturesque houses and perfectly manicured lawns. Chris Cander’s skill and empathy make this one of those rare novels that feels like a character study but reads like a thriller.” ―Matthew Norman, author of Last Couple Standing and All Together Now\n“Even upscale Houston neighborhoods, filled with families, can hold secrets and dangers. And even those lucky enough to live in them can feel like outsiders in their own lives. Cander navigates the complexities of female friendship and the power of an extended hand with deep insight and empathy. I was completely riveted!” ―Stacey Swann, author of Olympus, Texas\n“Moving seamlessly between a thriller, a comedy, and a study of the everyday, A Gracious Neighbor conjures the universal. Love, jealousy, social anxiety, and our endless foibles are displayed with warmth and hilarity. Cander’s characters come to life and leave us turning the next page. This isn’t simply a Houston novel but a novel about the collective ‘us.’” ―Mark Haber, author of Deathbed Conversions and Reinhardt’s Garden\n“Anyone who wishes they could choose their neighbors will relate to this simmering suburban drama. Chris Cander pits the power of compassion against the pressures of uniformity in this hugely entertaining drama. Cander explores the high cost of privacy, the insecurity behind our efforts to maintain appearances, and the risks we take to find out what’s really going on behind closed doors.” ―Christina Clancy, author of Shoulder Season\nA gripping novel about friendship, secrets, misjudgments, and redemption among women by the USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of a Piano. 
Martha Hale is an affable wife and mother who lives in an affluent neighborhood of well-tended lawns and high expectations. If only her clumsiness at penetrating the social circles of her neighbors weren’t making Martha so lonely. 
That’s why she’s thrilled when the glamorous Minnie Foster, a former high school classmate, moves in next door. Despite Martha’s determination, picking up where they left off is trickier than anticipated―especially when their memories of the past don’t always align. But Martha is undeterred. In fact, her preoccupation with Minnie’s life, her success, and her marriage is becoming an obsession. When she sees a darkness and shame hiding inside Minnie’s perfectly deceptive home, Martha realizes that not even Minnie’s secrets are what they seem. 
Visceral, sharp-witted, and deeply empathetic, A Gracious Neighbor explores the judgments women pass on one another and the ills of a society curated to keep them on the outside looking in.

Little A

A gripping novel about friendship, secrets, misjudgments, and redemption among women by the USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of a Piano. 
Martha Hale is an affable wife and mother who lives in an affluent neighborhood of well-tended lawns and high expectations. If only her clumsiness at penetrating the social circles of her neighbors weren’t making Martha so lonely. 
That’s why she’s thrilled when the glamorous Minnie Foster, a former high school classmate, moves in next door. Despite Martha’s determination, picking up where they left off is trickier than anticipated―especially when their memories of the past don’t always align. But Martha is undeterred. In fact, her preoccupation with Minnie’s life, her success, and her marriage is becoming an obsession. When she sees a darkness and shame hiding inside Minnie’s perfectly deceptive home, Martha realizes that not even Minnie’s secrets are what they seem. 
Visceral, sharp-witted, and deeply empathetic, A Gracious Neighbor explores the judgments women pass on one another and the ills of a society curated to keep them on the outside looking in.

Set in a small coal-mining town, a debut novel full of secrets, love, betrayal, and suspicious accidents, where Catholicism casts a long shadow and two courageous women make choices that will challenge our own moral convictions One morning in Verra, a town nestled into the hillsides of West Virginia, the young Myrthen Bergmann is playing tug-of-war with her twin, when her sister is killed. Unable to accept her own guilt, Myrthen excludes herself from all forms of friendship and affection and begins a twisted, haunted life dedicated to God. Meanwhile, her neighbor Alta Krol longs to be an artist even as her days are taken up caring for her widowed father and siblings. Everything changes when Myrthen marries the man Alta loves. Fourteen years later, we meet Lidia, a teenage girl in the same town, and her precocious son, Gabriel. When Gabriel starts telling eerily prescient stories that hint at Verra’s long-buried secrets, it’s not long before the townspeople begin to suspect that the boy harbors evil spirits—an irresistible state of affairs for Myrthen and her obsession with salvation.

Whisper Hollow: A Novel

Other Press

In 1962, in the Soviet Union, eight-year-old Katya is bequeathed what will become the love of her life: a BlÃ¼thner piano, built at the turn of the century in Germany, on which she discovers everything that she herself can do with music and what music, in turn, does for her. Yet after marrying, she immigrates with her young family from Russia to America, at her husband’s frantic insistence, and her piano is lost in the shuffle.

The Weight of a Piano (Center Point Premier Fiction (Largeprint))

Literary

Center Point

Shocking family secrets have the power to destroy--or unite--an estranged mother and daughter in an emotional and gripping novel by the author of A Gracious Neighbor. Mayree and Paula are a mother and daughter drifting apart, separated by grief and more, after the death of Mayree's husband. Mayree faces a future with no income, career, or social life. Even ties with her best friend have been severed. Paula, feeling abandoned by the father she loved, is left with only a bitter mother. When Paula reveals that she narrowly escaped a violent assault, Mayree's initial reaction is dismissal and disbelief. But as details unfold, it's clear that it was real and not just one random night gone horribly wrong--someone is out to destroy their lives. With each new threat from Paula's assailant, harrowing family secrets reemerge that force the mother and daughter to confront the shared traumas of their pasts. Drawing on courage and hope, they must save the relationship they never realized they'd lost. Reflective, suspenseful, and moving, The Young of Other Animals explores the psychic intergenerational damages that can alter relationships with loved ones forever.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cander, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Cander, Chris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cander, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Weight of a Piano: A novel

The Weight of a Piano: A novel

11 Stories

The Young of Other Animals: A Novel

A Gracious Neighbor: A Novel

A Gracious Neighbor: A Novel

Whisper Hollow: A Novel

The Weight of a Piano (Center Point Premier Fiction (Largeprint))

The Young of Other Animals: A Novel

The Young of Other Animals: A Novel