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The Engagements Audiobook
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Publisher Description
From the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine comes a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage—about those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding. Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction, and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything. A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America, and the way—for better or for worse—these glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.
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“A perceptive portrait…In Sullivan’s easy,unadorned style, The Engagements is adelightful marriage of cultural research and literary entertainment—the perfectbook to ruin your wedding plans…Even jumping from story to story every fewpages, Sullivan handles all the details elegantly, and the situations aresurprisingly distinct, adorned with the unique elements of the times and eventhe disparate ways people spoke.”
— Washington Post
Quotes
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“One smart summer read.”
— People -
“This novel’s concept is as shiny as a diamond itself.”
— Glamour -
“Sullivan is a born storyteller. Like its mineral muse, The Engagements shines.”
— Entertainment Weekly -
“The author of Maine and Commencement returns with a sprawling tale about marriage, its meaning, its importance, and whether or not a diamond really is forever.”
— Marie Claire -
“Sullivan takes the cake when it comes to tying the knot...Brilliantly captures how the vicissitudes of life...echo throughout a marriage.”
— Chicago Tribune -
“[Sullivan] threads her story with the glitter of diamonds…A tale that sweeps across varied emotional landscapes.”
— New York Daily News -
“The Engagements is a rollicking, entertaining read and a thought-provoking one too. Several of the characters’ voices have stayed in my head, and even days after putting it down I am left with a sturdy, hopeful sense of the fundamental goodwill of people and the abiding power of love.”
— Huffington Post -
“Captivating.”
— Minneapolis Tribune -
“A seamless tapestry…Sullivan is a keen observer of people and how they morph over time, either being softened by the years or made more brittle by strife.”
— BookReporter -
“A modern update of The Spoils of Poynton; elegant, assured, often moving, and with a gentle moral lesson to boot.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“Sullivan has written an intricate, beautifully timed novel, so delicious in its gradual unfolding that readers will want to reread it immediately to enjoy the fully realized ties.”
— Library Journal
Awards
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A Booklist Top 10 in June 2013
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A People Magazine Best Book of 2013
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A Chicago Tribune Editor’s Choice
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About J. Courtney Sullivan
J. Courtney Sullivan is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Engagements, Maine, and Commencement. Maine was named a 2011 Time magazine Best Book of the Year and a Washington Post Notable Book. The Engagements was one of People magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2013 and an Irish Times Best Book of the Year. She has contributed to the New York Times Book Review, Chicago Tribune, New York magazine, Elle, Glamour, Allure, Real Simple, and O: The Oprah Magazine, among many other publications.
About Kimberly Farr
Kimberly Farr is an actress and winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration. She has appeared on Broadway and at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Roundabout Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons, and the American Place. She created the role of “Eve” in Arthur Miller’s first and only musical, Up from Paradise, which was directed by the author. She appeared with Vanessa Redgrave in the Broadway production of The Lady from the Sea and has acted in regional theaters across the country, including a performance in the original production of The 1940’s Radio Hour at Washington, DC’s Arena Stage.