{"product_id":"the-life-to-come","title":"The Life to Come","description":"\u003cb\u003eWinner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award\u003cbr\u003eShortlisted for the Stella Prize\u003cbr\u003eLonglisted for the International Dublin Literary Award \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"For a novel concerned with dislocation, there's a lot of grounding humor in \u003ci\u003eThe Life to Come\u003c\/i\u003e. Most of it comes at the expense of Pippa and her ilk, but de Kretser's observations are so spot on, you'll forgive her even as you cringe.\"--Amelia Lester, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSet in Australia, France, and Sri Lanka, The Life to Come is about the stories we tell and don't tell ourselves as individuals, as societies, and as nations. Driven by a vivid cast of characters, it explores necessary emigration, the art of fiction, and ethnic and class conflict. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePippa is a writer who longs for success and eventually comes to fear that she \"missed everything important.\" Celeste tries to convince herself that her feelings for her married lover are reciprocated. Ash makes strategic use of his childhood in Sri Lanka, but blots out the memory of a tragedy from that time. Sri Lankan Christabel endures her dull job and envisions a brighter future that \"rose, glittered, and sank back,\" while she neglects the love close at hand. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe stand-alone yet connected worlds of \u003ci\u003eThe Life to Come\u003c\/i\u003e offer meditations on intimacy, loneliness, and our flawed perception of reality. Enormously moving, gorgeously observant of physical detail, and often very funny, this new novel by Michelle de Kretser reveals how the shadows cast by both the past and the future can transform and distort the present. It is teeming with life and earned wisdom--exhilaratingly contemporary, with the feel of a classic.","brand":"Catapult","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53786225049966,"sku":"9781948226158","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_5dc1919f-aaf0-47b5-b713-ec3e2ece400a.jpg?v=1779029021","url":"https:\/\/tenderbuttonsbooks.com\/products\/the-life-to-come","provider":"Tender Buttons Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}