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A Novel
by Tova Mirvis
A riveting literary page-turner that maps the extremes to which a family will go in order to protect their own.
No one appears more surprised than Hailey Gelman when she comes under suspicion for the murder of her soon-to-be ex-husband Jonah. Hailey—nicknamed Sunshine by her mother for her bright outlook and ever-present smile—has always tried to do what is expected of her and is regarded as the family peacemaker. But is anyone, including Hailey, who she has always seemed to be?
The months leading up to Jonah's death have been fraught, including a bitter separation and a messy custody battle over their young daughter, Maya. When Hailey files a motion to relocate to Florida so she can be near her family, Jonah retaliates and the divorce begins to spiral dangerously out of control.
Sherry, Hailey's mother, will stop at almost nothing to keep Jonah from getting what he wants. Nate, Hailey's impetuous and protective older brother, has tried to keep his distance, but he can't stand to see his little sister suffer. And then there's Solomon, the patriarch, who is keeping a secret that threatens the stability and security Sherry has worked so hard to maintain. Soon, they are forced to reckon with who they are as individuals and as a family, and just how far they will go for each other.
Inspired by a true story, We Would Never is a gripping mystery, an intimate family drama, and a provocative exploration of loyalty, betrayal, and the blurred line between protecting and forsaking the ones we love most.
"A penetrating study of a family whose all-consuming love for each other turns sinister. Readers won't be able to look away." —Publishers Weekly
"The emphasis here is less on solving the crime than on the characters' moral struggles as they live with the uncertain outcomes of their own decisions and those of the people they love. Propulsive, disturbing, and practically begging for a screen adaptation." —Kirkus Reviews
"In We Would Never, Tova Mirvis brings a novelist's eye to a tabloid story, and the result is both gripping and illuminating. Mirvis gets deep into her characters' heads and their twisted relationships, showing us how the toxic combination of a bad divorce, a custody dispute, and family dysfunction leads apparently reasonable people to a place where the unthinkable starts to look inevitable. Once you start this book, you won't want to put it down." —Tom Perrotta, author of Mrs. Fletcher
"Thrillingly plotted and exquisitely imagined, We Would Never is a masterful portrait of a family and its many secrets. A relentlessly intelligent barn-burner of a book." —Claire Dederer, author of Monsters
"We Would Never is utterly spellbinding. Tova Mirvis's characters are so real you'll wish you could grab them for a heart-to-heart before it's too late…but the propulsive plot is already sweeping you right along with them toward the unthinkable. Mirvis has written a knockout exploration of the ways people shape and misshape their lives through anger, and the lines people never believe they'll cross until they do." —Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink
This information about We Would Never was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tova Mirvis is the author of the memoir The Book of Separation as well as four novels, We Would Never, Visible City, The Outside World, and The Ladies Auxiliary, which was a national bestseller. Her essays have appeared in various newspapers including The New York Times Book Review, The Boston Globe Magazine, and Poets and Writers, and her fiction has been broadcast on NPR. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her family. You can connect with her on her website, TovaMirvis.com.
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