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Ladder of Years
Ladder of Years
Dec 2, 2025 7:09 PM

Author:Anne Tyler

Ladder of Years

One warm summer's day at the beach, forty-year-old Cordelia Grinstead, dressed only in a swimsuit and beach robe, walks away from her family and just keeps on going.

After hitching a ride with a stranger to a new town where she knows no one, she reinvents herself as a single woman with no ties and begins living a new life altogether. But how long can she keep this up before her real life finds her?

**ANNE TYLER HAS SOLD OVER 8 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE**

'Anne Tyler takes the ordinary, the small, and makes them sing' Rachel Joyce

'She knows all the secrets of the human heart' Monica Ali

'A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks

'I love Anne Tyler. I've read every single book she's written' Jacqueline Wilson

Reviews

No one evokes the frustrations of marriage, family life and independence with such pinpoint accuracy as Tyler

—— Daily Mail

It is difficult to imagine a writer so prodigiously gifted

—— Herald

Another winner from Anne Tyler

—— Independent

Every scene breathes with intimacy. Lifelikeness almost lifts the characters off the page…scintillating with joie de vivre

—— Sunday Times

Utterly compelling…wonderfully satisfying...virtually flawless

—— Chicago Tribune

Anne Tyler is a writer of immaculate delicacy

—— Observer

Her best book yet

—— Roddy Doyle

Every scene breathes with intimacy. Lifelikeness almost lifts the characters off the page. Ladder of Years ruefully contemplates the unhaltable passage of time. But, scintillating with joie de vivre, it also offers an intensely appealing way of passing it

—— Sunday Times

Anne Tyler's novels have three qualities that make them special: they are funny, they are sad, they are intelligent

—— Nick Hornby

Dialogue top-rate, people alive to their fingertips, places as real as next door - you don't get a finer comedy of manners than this

—— Mail on Sunday

So rigorous and artful is the style without a style, so measured and delicate is each observation, so complex is the structure and so astute and open the language, that the reader can relax, feel secure in the narrative and experience the work as something real and natural

—— New York Times

The beauty is in the details

—— Sunday Times

Wonderfully satisfying... Virtually flawless

—— Chicago Tribune

It is difficult to imagine a writer so prodigiously gifted; her work appears to be effortless. She is one of the most accomplished and impressive novelists of her generation, one of the very few contemporary writers one reads with a real sense of discovery

—— Herald

A soul-stirring and dramatic tale of a Palestinian family's exile and reconciliation... The layered text, rich in languages and literary references, dives deep into Sonia's consciousness, illustrating her hopes for what art can accomplish. This deeply human work will stay with readers.

—— Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review*

Perhaps all I can say is that I am so grateful – for Enter Ghost’s precision, for its imagination of theatre as occupiable and reclaimable space, for the way it observes and reifies resistance with such clarity... An ambitious and remarkably accomplished work... Compelling, commanding… A page-turner of real depth as well as some remarkable lightness.

—— Skinny, *Books of the Year*

A fabulous story. Masterfully realised by Chase, this is one of those books that demands complete attention and lingers in your mind for days after finishing the last page

—— thebookbag.co.uk

Brilliant

—— The Lady

Debut novelist Chase weaves together Lorna's investigations with Amber's tribulations, a tapestry embroidered with madness, a horrifying accident, and malicious lies. Compellingly readable and riddled with twists and turns worthy of Daphne du Maurier, Chase's tale will delight

—— Kirkus Reviews

Chase's heart-wrenching first novel is equal parts romance, mystery, and historical fiction

—— Library Journal

Chase deserves high marks for her atmospheric setting and vivid prose, and fans of old-fashioned gothic stories will find this a winner

—— Publishers Weekly

An absorbing, pacy book full of secrets, lovable characters and dramatic turns, Black Rabbit Hall revolves around the lives and loyalties of four siblings caught up in a life-changing event at their family's country home in Cornwall. A fantastic debut

—— Mumsnet

A beautifully written novel

—— Marie Claire

Curtis Sittenfeld has made a name for herself by writing reliably smart, funny romantic heroines. Her new novel makes it official with a refreshingly irreverent take on the genre. Very funny

—— DAILY EXPRESS

Like all the best romantic comedies, the tension lies in the will-they-won't-they back and forth of the story arc and true to all the best examples of the genre, readers will be rooting for Sally to have her much-deserved happy-ever-after

—— MARIE-CLAIRE, BEST BOOKS OF 2023

Scapel-sharp

—— DAILY MAIL

Witty and sharp

—— BELLA MAGAZINE

Smart, sophisticated and fun

—— OPRAH DAILY

Delightful. The woman narrating ROMANTIC COMEDY is hyper-aware of the conventions of romantic comedy, and she knows full well that real life is no fairytale. But could it be this time?

—— WASHINGTON POST

Sittenfeld's latest takes a shot of SNL and makes sparks fly

—— ELLE

Hilarious, heartwarming

—— HARPER'S BAZAAR

If you're looking for a romance with edge, this book is for you. The writing is as intelligent and funny as you'd expect from the author of classics such as American Wife and it's a properly swoonsome love story

—— GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Cancel plans and dive into bestselling author Sittenfeld's hilarious take on the classic will-they-won't-they storyline

—— ELLE

Written by one of the very best out there, Romantic Comedy is a novel that you won't want to put down and one you'll want to recommend to everyone you know

—— GLAMOUR

An enthralling, humorous and subversive tale set in the world of a live TV comedy show

—— STYLIST

Whip-smart, funny and a fascinating look behind the scenes of a sketch show. Curtis Sittenfeld has penned another exquisitely written novel

—— WOMAN'S WEEKLY

A piercing look at the genre of Romcom set against the backdrop of a Saturday Night Live-esque TV show - a rollercoaster of modern love and dating

—— STYLIST

I ate it up whole. Joyful

—— EVA WISEMAN, OBSERVER

Get lost in a modern romantic fantasy

—— DAILY RECORD

A humorous take on Hollywood romcoms

—— BBC BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Sexy, funny, thought-provoking and everything I hoped it would be. Her best novel since American Wife.

—— RED, Best Books of the Year

Romantic Comedy combines humour with poignancy and a lot of heart.

—— GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, Best romance books to read

Sittenfeld's novel continues her wider project of exploring the possibility for a kind of redemptive idealism within our flawed world

—— GUARDIAN

Sittenfeld has penned another exquisitely written novel

—— WOMAN MAGAZINE

A fizzy love letter to the prototypical romcom

—— NEW YORK TIMES, Editor's Choice

So much of Sittenfeld's work exists in the dissection and comprehension of female desire

—— NEW YORK TIMES

Flirting with the tropes of its namesake genre, this playful novel follows Sally, a writer on an "S.N.L."-like show called "Night Owls," who falls in love with one of its guest hosts. Their relationship develops via e-mail in the post-grocery-wiping, pre-vaccine days of covid-19. When Sally decides to visit her beloved in L.A., their time together in his Topanga mansion requires her to navigate incredulity, insecurity, and an offer that she feels is an "affront to my independence." The novel is preoccupied with the instinctual nature of self-sabotage, and with the fulfillment that can come from defying ingrained impulses

—— NEW YORKER

Insightful romcom sparkles with real wit and wisdom

—— SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

Whip smart and really funny

—— BUSINESS POST

Scores big on giving readers an insight into the machinations of a TV writers-room

—— CRACK

Full of dazzling banter and sizzling chemistry

—— PEOPLE MAGAZINE

If you ever wanted a backstage pass to Saturday Night Live, this book is for you

—— GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Excellent

—— MAIL ON SUNDAY

Both a brilliant portrait of the comedy world and a witty grown-up love story. Lives up to its name

—— IRISH TIMES
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