Mary and O'Neil: A Novel in Stories - Paperback

by Justin Cronin (Author)

WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD - "An astonishingly good first novel . . . fully engaging from the first paragraph. What a gift: to be able to live alongside these people for a while."--Ann Patchett, Chicago Tribune

Mary and O'Neil: They are like any other couple. They have survived loss and found love and managed the occasional hard-earned laugh as they move toward the future, hearts thick with hope. Each human life is ever changing, born of moments large and small--births and deaths and weddings, grave mistakes and chance encounters and acts of surprising courage--and in this unforgettable book, Justin Cronin makes vivid how those moments connect us all, making us more than we could ever be on our own.

Alight with nuance, sly humor, and startling wisdom, Mary and O'Neil celebrates the uncommon grace to be found in common lives

Praise for Mary and O'Neil

"Admirably fearless."--The New York Times Book Review

"The kind of storytelling that goes down easy, and sticks to your ribs."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Cronin succeeds, touchingly and tenderly, in portraying life itself as a triumph of hope over experience."--The Boston Globe

Front Jacket

Mary and O'Neil frequently marveled at how, of all the lives they might have led, they had somehow found this one together. When they met at the Philadelphia high school where they'd come to teach, each had suffered a profound loss that had not healed. How likely was it that they could learn to trust, much less love, again?
Justin Cronin's poignant debut traces the lives of Mary Olson and O'Neil Burke, two vulnerable young teachers who rediscover in each other a world alive with promise and hope. From the formative experiences of their early adulthood to marriage, parenthood, and beyond, this novel in stories illuminates the moments of grace that enable Mary and O'Neil to make peace with the deep emotional legacies that haunt them: the sudden, mysterious death of O'Neil's parents, Mary's long-ago decision to end a pregnancy, O'Neil's sister's battle with illness and a troubled marriage. Alive with magical nuance and unexpected encounters, Mary and O'Neil celebrates the uncommon in common lives, and the redemptive power of love.

Author Biography

Justin Cronin is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and associate professor of English at La Salle University. His work has appeared in many literary journals, including Epoch, Greensboro Review, and Crescent Review, and in The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine. He lives with his wife and their young daughter in Philadelphia.