{"product_id":"the-alternatives-9780593545010b","title":"The Alternatives","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eA bold, beautiful, complex novel.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom childhood orphanhood to adult independence, four ingenious Irish sisters—Olwen, Maeve, Nell and Rhona—navigate the professional, personal and ecological challenges of their thirties. All single, all with PhDs, each sister is pursuing meaningful work across the globe: from Connecticut classrooms to London’s elegant catering scene, from geological fieldwork to academic offices.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Olwen, haunted by her awareness of the earth’s precarious future, vanishes without warning, the remaining sisters converge on rural Ireland. There they abandon the life they’ve built and shadow the missing sibling into a derelict bungalow near the border, where past wounds and familial bonds emerge into the open.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the process of search and reunion, the sisters confront their shared history of grief, the burdens of independence, the demands of caring for the planet and one another, and the question: what are the alternatives—to the life we lead, the work we choose, the relationships we maintain? Warmly witty and intellectually daring, this is a story about sisterhood, ambition, nature, and belonging.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e“Exuberant… Hughes’s prose is like a virtuosic jazz number — loose, free and surprising… A bold, beautiful, complex novel.” \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e“The novel begins with alternating chapters that sharply delve into each woman’s life and work in brief, fascinating lectures on subjects from land subsidence to locavorism… Ultimately \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eThe Alternatives\u003c\/span\u003e is concerned with the duties of caring for the planet and one’s loved ones.” \u003cem\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e“Intelligent, impassioned, and wholly satisfying.” \u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e“Warm, fiercely witty, and unexpectedly hopeful… The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice.” \u003cem\u003eBookBrowse\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Riverhead Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42819633512528,"sku":"9780593545010B","price":7.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780593545010-l.jpg?v=1785876711","url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/products\/the-alternatives-9780593545010b","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}