Two former lovers reconnect in this beautiful and haunting tale of great lost love from the critically acclaimed author of The Headmaster's Wife.
Deeply affecting and compulsively readable, The Headmaster's Wife was a breakout book for Thomas Christopher Greene. Now, Greene returns with a beautifully written, emotional new novel perfect for his growing audience.
Twenty-one years after they were driven apart by circumstances beyond their control, two former lovers have a chance encounter on a Manhattan street. What follows is a tense, suspenseful exploration of the many facets of enduring love. Told from altering points of view through time, If I Forget You tells the story of Henry Gold, a poet whose rise from poverty embodies the American dream, and Margot Fuller, the daughter of a prominent, wealthy family, and their unlikely, star-crossed love affair, complete with the secrets they carry when they find each other for the second time.
Written in lyrical prose, If I Forget You is at once a great love story, a novel of marriage, manners, and family, a meditation on the nature of art, a moving elegy to what it means to love and to lose, and how the choices we make can change our lives forever.
"Greene's candid tale of true love besieged by insurmountable hardship, only to be rekindled later in life, is delicate and tender, providing readers with a gentle escape and soulful interlude." - Booklist
"Just finished reading it. Liked it! I'll be hand selling this one." - Clay Belcher, Signs of Life Books. St. Lawrence, KS.
"WOW. What a book! I finished If I Forget You this morning. I thought it was a great love story, emotionally taut in all the right places." - Tina Panik, Avon Free Public Library. Avon, CT.
"Greene writes his characters so well and portrays Henry's longing so beautifully that the reader can't help but be touched by their predicament. This absorbing and unexpected love story was a delight to consume." - Claire Benedict, Bear Pond Books. Montpelier, VT.
"We all want to believe, don't we, that a lost love will find us again, and change everything? Thomas Christopher Greene's If I Forget You is just that, Romeo and Juliet, if they had lived, Rhett and Scarlet, if she hadn't been so blind, and Rick and Ilsa, if the world hadn't been at war. Romantic, full of yearning, and hopeful, this is an unapologetically passionate tale about the kind of enduring love we dream about when we are young." - Robin Oliveira, New York Times bestselling author of My Name is Mary Sutter and I Always Loved You
"Piled-on melodramatic elements (an overbearing father, an act of violence) and a pat ending threaten to undermine the care with which he has created two believable and empathetic characters. Nevertheless, readers will be rooting to see Henry and Margot together again despite the odds." - Publishers Weekly
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Thomas Christopher Greene is the author of four novels: Mirror Lake, I'll Never be Long Gone, Envious Moon and The Headmaster's Wife. His fiction has been translated into eleven languages and has won many awards and honors. In 2007, Tom founded the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a top fine arts college, making him the youngest college president in America at that time. He lives in Montpelier, VT, with his family.
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