Some Bright Nowhere

Some Bright Nowhere is for fans of Catherine Newman or Ann Patchett and their beautifully authentic and complex family dynamics. It's an emotionally devastating yet life affirming story about a marriage of almost 40 years and the way it shifts at the final stages of a cancer diagnosis.

We are dropped into this marriage at a point where both Eliot and Claire know the end is coming soon, and we see the imperfect and human ways they both try to cope with this future that lies before them.

It looks at the change they are experiencing from husband to caregiver and wife to patient with such psychological tenderness and insight. Ann Packer explores grief and what it means to mourn and how we might grapple with our final weeks or months with our loved ones.

This was heartfelt and complicated and my heart was slowly shattered by every page - exquisite. A heavy topic but written with such a gentle and humanizing hand.

To say I enjoyed Some Bright Nowhere doesn't fully describe the huge range of emotions I experienced reading it. It's an emotional gut-punch, beautiful yet brutal.

This novel raises thorny questions about everything from marriage, friendship, love and family through to death, dying, grief and how we survive in the face of loss. But it wasn't written heavily - I found it a joy to read.

I loved this novel. If you enjoy novels that unravel slowly, that feature very human and relatable characters and that deal with some big, timeless issues, you'll love it too.