NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Revelations about a seemingly ordinary mother force her adult children to reexamine their lives in this “absorbing novel about family secrets” (The Dallas Morning News). Laura Bartone anticipates her annual family reunion in Minnesota with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Yet this year’s gathering will prove to be much more trying than either she or her siblings … either she or her siblings imagined. As soon as she arrives, Laura realizes that something is not right with her sister. Forever wrapped up in events of long ago, Caroline is the family’s restless black sheep. When Caroline confronts Laura and their brother, Steve, with devastating allegations about their mother, the three have a difficult time reconciling their varying experiences in the same house. But a sudden misfortune will lead them all to face the past, their own culpability, and their common need for love and forgiveness.
Readers have come to love Elizabeth Berg for the “lucent beauty of [her] prose, the verity of her insights, and the tenderness of her regard for her fellow human” (Booklist). In The Art of Mending, her most profound and emotionally satisfying novel to date, she confronts some of the deepest mysteries of life, as she explores how even the largest sins can be forgiven by the smallest gestures, and how grace can come to many through the trials of one.
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Elizabeth Berg’s Once Upon a Time, There Was You.
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Thought provoking.
The Art of Mending was a story of a family,
Ike all families that needs healing. Elizabeth Berg is a master story teller and brings her characters to life.
This story was intriguing and well written. Until the end which literally didn’t happen. It’s as if she got tired of writing it and just stopped. Frustrating!
I love every book by Elizabeth Berg, every one is a winner!
To outsiders. some families look perfect, but we all know there is no such thing as perfect. Life is messy, unfair, unpredictable, joyous, loving and caring. It can run the whole spectrum of emotions. When the layers are pealed back and we see what really goes on behind closed doors, then we see the true picture of the life within a …
The Art of Mending is such a thought-full title. I like how it rolls off my tongue, offering hope for whatever needs fixing.
Mending: An old-fashioned word. Who mends these days? And yet, it’s a comforting word much like the stories that Elizabeth Berg unravels, then pulls together with a satisfactory ending.
Elizabeth Berg is skilled with …
Elizabeth Berg has never written a novel that I haven’t loved to read. The Art of Mending is a poignant look at the lives of women we all know. Perhaps ourselves.
Mended life. Characters are multidimensional and unpredictable.
Insipid
Not Elizabeth Berg’s best but still worth reading.
One of my favorite writers!
I could relate to so many situations and characters in the book; one of my favorites especially because the main character is a quilter (so am I) and she sees what in life if truly important and always tries to fix them “something that is mended many many times is greatly loved”!
It makes me think that I might not know what I think I know about my family. Hmmm!
Very good read
Calming
I really liked this story about a dysfunctional family who did not realize what happened until adulthood. Very well written.
I always enjoy Elizabeth Berg’s books. She has a way with words that few writers have.
I am a big fan of Elizabeth Berg – and for the most part, this novel did not disappoint. Berg writes about the functional dysfunctional family that most of us know and love. I recognized those sisters, that mother, and that brother. But, for all of the excellent work Berg has produced, then end seemed disingenuous – not quite believable that all …
I liked it. Didn’t love it. It was very readable and featured interesting characters, but was a bit slow in parts.
Very good story