Evensong Featured on NPR

Evensong, by Stewart O’Nan

O’Nan’s latest novel finds the “oracle of the ordinary and maven of the middle class” — as NPR reviewer Heller McAlpin described the novelist in 2012 — once again mining the mundane for its hidden magic. In Evensong, the cult favorite centers a small, lovingly rendered group of older women as they navigate the peculiar challenges of growing older, together as friends.

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The Minnesota Star Tribune: The lives of four older women ring true in sweet ‘Evensong’

Emily Maxwell is back.

The star of Stewart O’Nan’s novel “Emily, Alone” and a co-star of O’Nan’s “Henry, Himself,” she plays a supporting role in the author’s latest, “Evensong.” She’s one of several elderly female characters, mostly widows, mostly living in an independent-living complex where they have settled into being a family of friends.

I know a tiny bit about this situation — my mom lives in a similar place, has a similar weekly game group and a similar bunch of friends, who deliver meals to each other, drive each other to hair and eye doctor appointments and bus as a group to plays and concerts. From what I can tell, O’Nan has depicted the comforts, joys and heartbreaks of this kind of situation with precision and compassion.

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