A NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2017
"This year’s best book about family." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
A sweeping, unforgettable novel from The New York Times best-selling author of Maine, about the hope, sacrifice, and love between two sisters and the secret that drives them apart.
Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan—a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand. Fifty years later, Nora is the matriarch of a big Catholic family with four grown children: John, a successful, if opportunistic, political consultant; Bridget, quietly preparing to have a baby with her girlfriend; Brian, at loose ends after a failed baseball career; and Patrick, Nora's favorite, the beautiful boy who gives her no end of heartache. Estranged from her sister, Theresa is a cloistered nun, living in an abbey in rural Vermont. Until, after decades of silence, a sudden death forces Nora and Theresa to confront the choices they made so long ago. A graceful, supremely moving novel from one of our most beloved writers, Saints for All Occasions explores the fascinating, funny, and sometimes achingly sad ways a secret at the heart of one family both breaks them and binds them together.
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“Narrator Susan Denaker creates an unforgettable experience that reflects the intensity of a family’s emotions as she alternates between past and present…Denaker exudes Nora’s pragmatism, infusing her Irish accent with firm tones. Theresa transforms from a vivacious young woman into a mature, cloistered nun. Sons John and Brian embody the New World with Boston accents. Daughter Bridget suppresses her Dorchester cadence as she makes a life in New York City. Denaker’s sympathetic performance complements Sullivan’s storytelling to reveal complex family dynamics and the power of identity.”
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