Click on image to buy from Amazon.Com

They met over their dogs. Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp (author of Drinking: A Love Story) became best friends, talking about everything from their love of books and their shared history of a struggle with alcohol to their relationships with men. Walking the woods of New England and rowing on the Charles River, these two private, self-reliant women created an attachment more profound than either of them could ever have foreseen. Then, several years into this remarkable connection, Knapp was diagnosed with cancer. With her signature exquisite prose, Caldwell mines the deepest levels of devotion, and courage in this gorgeous memoir about treasuring a best friend, and coming of age in midlife. Let’s Take the Long Way Home is a celebration of the profound transformations that come from intimate connection—and it affirms, once again, why Gail Caldwell is recognized as one of our bravest and most honest literary voices.

Editorial Reviews

“The flaw is the thing we love.” Of all the passages worthy of dog-earing (or highlighting) in Let’s Take the Long Way Home (and there are many), this one is the most powerful wellspring. It captures the very thing we hope to find in friendship: a person who admires and cares for us not in spite of our flaws, but in acceptance of them, as part and parcel of who we are. For Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp–two intensely driven, talented writers who found in each other an uncannily similar share of life experiences and ambitions–loving the flaws became a cornerstone of their friendship. This is a beautiful story of the best things about best friends: shared rituals and private jokes, long walks (in this case, with their dearly loved dogs) and longer talks, confessions and discoveries. It would be wrong to say that their friendship ended with Caroline’s unexpected death, because it so obviously lives and breathes in the rich and wonderful tapestry of stories told here. –Anne Bartholomew, Amazon.Com Review

Gail Caldwell, a Texas transplant in Boston, was happy with her life. In her early 40s, Caldwell kept busy by writing book reviews and training a new dog — she wasn’t really looking for friendship. Then she met Caroline Knapp, another writer living in Boston, and gradually their lives became thoroughly intertwined. Until the day Caroline died of lung cancer at 42. Caldwell’s memoir, Let’s Take the Long Way Home, describes the unique, sisterly bond she shared with Knapp. These two women may not have grown up down the street from one another or attended the same schools, but their friendship was just as strong as if they had. – NPR Book Review

The Rebecca Review

“I wanted the warmth of spontaneous connection and the freedom to be left alone.” ~ Gail Caldwell

From the start of this profoundly beautiful story we know that Gail Caldwell loses her best friend Caroline Knapp. As she puts it so precisely, you can’t “sidestep the cruelty of an intolerable loss.” For about a third of this book the words were blurry because it is so moving. Just when I thought I had composed myself enough to read on, I cried again. Sometimes I’d read a sentence and reread it again and again because it was so true.

This is the story of two soul mates who love dogs, swimming and sculling. In some way it doesn’t matter what they were doing, they just loved being together. After an outing they would find themselves both at home calling each other on the phone. Their friendship is deep, meaningful and essential!

There are some surprising details like how they both dated the same man. What are the chances of that happening? Then there is the fact that they both loved drinking at one point in their lives and overcame their addiction before meeting. Gail Caldwell talks briefly about her own drinking problem but mostly focuses on the friendship.

“Let’s Take the Long Way Home” is a book that will work its way into your heart in ways few books ever will. I loved the warmth of Gail Caldwell’s writing style and how she expresses such honest feelings in lucid prose. This is one of the best books I’ve read this year!

Advertisement

Vampire Ascending

by Lorelei Bell

Sabrina Strong is a Touch Clairvoyant who knows a secret. She knows her mother was turned into a vampire when Sabrina was ten. Now that she is grown up, a powerful magnate in the Chicago business world hires her to reveal the identity of who relentlessly murders vampires in his ultra-modern stronghold of a hotel. [Read More...] – Including an excerpt of the first chapter.

Vampire Ascending is now available at Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and any other good bookstore.