In this absorbing and suspenseful debut novel–reminiscent of Revolutionary Road and inspired by a little-known piece of history–a young couple must fight to save both their marriage and the town they live in.
In 1959, Nat Collier moves with her husband, Paul, and their two young daughters to Idaho Falls, a remote military town. An Army Specialist, Paul is stationed there to help oversee one … stationed there to help oversee one of the country’s first nuclear reactors–an assignment that seems full of opportunity.
Then, on his rounds, Paul discovers that the reactor is compromised, placing his family and the entire community in danger. Worse, his superiors set out to cover up the problem rather than fix it. Paul can’t bring himself to tell Nat the truth, but his lies only widen a growing gulf between them.
Lonely and restless, Nat is having trouble adjusting to their new life. She struggles to fit into her role as a housewife and longs for a real friend. When she meets a rancher, Esrom, she finds herself drawn to him, comforted by his kindness and company. But as rumors spread, the secrets between Nat and Paul build and threaten to reach a breaking point.
Based on a true story of the only fatal nuclear accident to occur in America, The Longest Night is a deeply moving novel that explores the intricate makeup of a marriage, the shifting nature of trust, and the ways we try to protect the ones we love.
Advance praise for The Longest Night
“In The Longest Night, unspoken longings within a marriage trigger an emotional explosion just as intense as the nuclear accident at the novel’s core. Andria Williams’s debut is an intimately detailed portrait of love, trust, and guilt in a town–and an era–clouded with secrets.”–Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You
“In The Longest Night, Andria Williams demonstrates her masterly understanding of the painfully gorgeous intimacies of the human condition. The author’s thrilling storyline will keep you turning the pages, while her ability to inject a sharp dose of hope, fear, and desire into the most innocent of scenes will take you captive. I loved it.”–David R. Gillham, New York Times bestselling author of City of Women
“It’s hard to believe The Longest Night is Andria Williams’s debut novel. Her command of language, character, and plot–the three essential ingredients for a riveting read–is extraordinary. This is the book I will be pressing into my friends’ hands this year when they ask me what they should be reading.”–David Abrams, author of Fobbit
”The Longest Night is a smart and compassionate novel that offers as many fresh insights into marriage and intimacy as it does about American nuclear history. Andria Williams is a terrific writer–clear-eyed and empathetic–and this is a fantastic debut.”–Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans
“Williams brilliantly balances high-wire tension with heart-crushing empathy for her cast of seeking, flawed, beautifully complex characters. This debut novel effortlessly evokes the mores and signposts of an earlier era, and brings to life characters whose loneliness, longing, and dignity are rendered with an indelible vividness that transcends time.”–Suzanne Rivecca, author of Death Is Not an Option
From the Hardcover edition.
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From the moment I received an advanced reader copy from the author’s editor, Andrea Walker, I knew I held a treasured story in my hands. The ARC opens with a letter from Ms. Walker that addresses each reviewer in a respectful and endearing manner. She gives us a brief summary of the novel and ends her letter with these words: “In this atmospheric and immersive debut, big historical events play out in the intimate context of a marriage…”
The story unfolds with Army Specialist Paul Collier racing down a lonely road outside of Idaho Falls on the frigid night of January 3, 1961. All we know at this point is that something bad has happened at the CR-1, a nuclear reactor where Paul works as an operator. As he heads toward the reactor, his thoughts are on his men working the night shift and his beautiful young wife, Nat. She’s back in town fifty miles away at their cute little pitched roof rent house where their three young children are tucked in their beds. Would Paul ever see them again? And would he get a chance to apologize to Nat for the way he’d stormed out?
Then the story moves back in time to June 1959, when we first meet Nat Collier and her two preschool aged daughters, Samantha and Liddie. Nat, short for Natalie, plays the dutiful Army wife as she follows her husband on a cross-country move to his new duty station in Idaho. The story really gripped me at the opening lines of chapter one when Nat first steps out of their 1955 Desoto Fireflite: “Nat was the first one out of the car. She stepped into the dirt parking lot, her low-heeled shoes printing chevrons into the reddish dirt.”
After reading these lines, I kept going back to stare at the cream-colored pumps on the book’s cover. The shoes took me back to a time when women wore dresses and heels to clean house, run errands, and throw dinner parties to impress their friends and neighbors. For me, a former military wife, these pumps on the cover and the imprint Nat’s soles leave in the dirt, represent a formality that came with marrying into the military during this era.
But much of the story will resonate with today’s military spouses. In a passage where Nat is chatting with another young Army wife, the author says it all about the vagabond lifestyle and how quickly friendships are formed. “Nat was learning the hard way that if you wanted friends in the military, there was no time to waste. Years worth of closeness and trust and shared jokes were accelerated into weeks.”
Then there’s the temptation that comes from long separations during deployments and temporary duty assignments where the spouses are left to fend for themselves on the home front. Nat’s temptation turns out to be a local cowboy named Esrom, and wouldn’t you know, he turns out to be one of my favorite characters in the story.
For those characters you love to hate, especially the ones who abuse power, Andria Williams does a superb job with Paul’s boss, Master Sergeant Richards (who drives a 1957 Cadillac Coupe de Ville), and his perfectly coiffed wife, Jeannie.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who values good writing and a story that both entertains and educates. I’m especially impressed with how the author writes about a nuclear reactor on a level that I can understand, as I am not a science person. After reading whole passages aloud to my husband, he got so intrigued that he started researching the history behind the real accident that took place on January 3, 1961.
The Longest Night is one of those novels that will live on in your head as if you were actually one of the characters in the story and now these are shared memories.
What an incredible and eye opening story! Performance was,excellent and this historical writing is superb!