Big City Eyes

"Compassionate, funny, and tremendously satisfying," was The New York Times Book Review's description of Delia Ephron's first novel, Hanging Up. In her new book, she brings her heart and humor to the story of a woman's attempt to deal with passion, guilt, murder, and motherhood.

In a state of near panic because of the nighttime activities of her teenage son, Lily Davis decides to uproot herself and Sam from Manhattan to Sakonnet Bay, a small Long Island town, where presumably the opportunities for trouble and grief are less available. She becomes a reporter for the weekly paper, Sam enrolls in high school, and for at least a few weeks life proceeds as expected. Then, through unexpected and unnerving circumstances, she spies a naked woman asleep in a summer house. And everything changes. There is a murder. Or is there? And there is a man. But he is married, and Lily is filled with guilt-about her own divorce. Friendship and love relationships unravel, or threaten to. Are people and events as they seem, or is Lily just perceiving her small town through big-city eyes?

"Gentle humor and deadpan observation," said The Boston Globe of Hanging Up. "Ephron handles her characters with a deft, delicate touch." Delia Ephron has become known for her subtle ability to mix wit and sensitivity. In this book, she outdoes herself, with quirky Lily Davis, a big-city woman attempting to make sense of small-town life.