Anna Quindlen, “Alternate Side”

In this provocative novel, acclaimed novelist Anna Quindlen explores tensions in a tight-knit community following an unexpected act of violence. Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life. Then one morning she returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken her comfortable neighborhood, and the fault lines begin to open: on the block, at her job, especially in her marriage. With humor, understanding, and a warm heart, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning.