Synopses & Reviews
In the tradition of Zoe Hellers
What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal,
The New Neighbor is a darkly sophisticated novel about an old womans curiosity turned into a dangerous obsession as she becomes involved in her new neighbors complicated and cloaked life.
How Much Can You Really Know About the Woman Next Door?
Ninety-year-old Margaret Riley is content hiding from the world. Stoic and independent, she rarely leaves the Tennessee mountaintop where she lives, finding comfort in the mystery novels that keep her company—until she spots a woman whos moved into the long-empty house across the pond.
Her neighbor, Jennifer Young, is also looking to hide. On the run from her old life, she and her four-year-old son, Milo, have moved to a quiet town where no one from her past can find her.
In Jennifer, Margaret sees both a potential companion for her loneliness and a mystery to be solved. She thinks if she says the right thing, tells the right story, Jennifer will open up, but Jennifer refuses to talk about herself, her son, his missing father, or her past. Frustrated, Margaret crosses more and more boundaries in pursuit of the truth, threatening to unravel the new life Jennifer has so painstakingly created—and reveal some secrets of her own…
From the critically acclaimed author of The History of Us and The Myth of You and Me, The New Neighbor explores the secrets that bind people together and drive them apart.
Review
The History of Us
“A sprawling novel with some of the off-kilter charm of Anne Tyler’s work, The History of Us glows with affection for its wounded, familiar characters.”
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“Touching drama . . . Faced with urgent choices, Eloise and the grown kids react with varying degrees of wisdom and pigheadedness, but as Stewart tenderly demonstrates, they remain – for better or worse – a family.”
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“Stewart’s novel reminds us how family ties trump all else.”
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"Charming. . . Stewart weaves a smart, redemptive tale of maturation."
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“Domestic fiction fans favoring strong, intelligent characters will be intrigued by Stewart’s introspective examination of a family.”
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“Stewart is a wonderful observer of family relationships, and she adroitly weaves the stories of Eloise and the children she’s raised—their work, their loves, their disappointments and dreams—while focusing on what ties families together, and what ultimately keeps those ties from breaking.”
Review
"With a playwright’s precise, sometimes excoriating dialogue and an insightful novelist’s judicious use of interior monologue, Stewart crafts a tearful yet unsentimental family coming-of-age story."
Review
“A poignant exploration of the meaning of family…the life they’ve lived was as much a gift as the life they lost.”
Review
“Stewart’s novel is an intimate exploration of a family in crisis and the different ways in which people cope with grief.”
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"The History of Us stays the course and shows how a family negotiates through a particular crisis. Leah Stewart seems to love her characters even when they are not especially lovable, and gives them space and time enough to grow and change."
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“Stewart portrays the yearning and conflict of very recognizable people. . . . [She] makes the reader care about these good people — and applaud as each finally dares to break out of familial inertia, to act instead of yearn. . . . Like her mentors Eliot and Austen, Stewart explores the delicate dilemmas of family life: balancing loyalty and self-interest, giving and receiving joy and sorrow, achieving togetherness and separateness.”
Review
“Leah Stewart possesses magic. It is awe-inspiring to see how clearly and sensitively she presents the numerous ways her characters are broken and then finds a way to offer some hope of healing. With the family at the heart of The History of Us, Stewart shows that she is unafraid of difficult characters and that she is equally unafraid of making sure they matter to us.”
Review
"Tender and compelling, The History of Us explores how we define our family and who, ultimately, we are both with and without them. These characters and their stories stuck with me long after the final page, and Leah Stewart proves once again that she is a master of understanding the complexity of human nature."
Review
"Leah Stewart plunges deep into questions of home and heart. The History of Us is a lovely novel. Just lovely.”
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"This narrative voice is so alive. . . . I cherish this wry, funny, aching, intelligent character and this book!”
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“A genuine and heartwarming story about the complicated thing we call family, and what it means to be home. I laughed. I cried. And I was very sorry to turn the last page.”
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"A deeply human book: funny, tender, smart, self-aware."
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The Myth of You and Me
“Leah Stewart captures, as few other writers do, the passions and pains and pleasures of friendship. Anyone who has ever lost or found a friend will respond to this beautifully written and suspenseful novel.”
Review
“The Myth of You and Me deftly exposes the passionate and particular bonds of female friendship, from adolescence to adulthood. Poignant, fierce, and compelling, this is a story all women will recognize, and one all too rarely told.”
Review
“Full of genuine feeling–and gripping, too–this book about a friendship between two women announces that Leah Stewart is a marvelous writer.”
Review
“Wrapped up with a zinger of a twist, the suspenseful tale moves rapidly and finishes on a satisfying note. In other words, it’s got lots of imagination, plenty of excitement, and a pinch of truth.”
Review
“A smart, exceedingly well-written story about the mysteries at the heart of even the most intimate friendships between women. You’ll be reading into the wee hours.”
Review
"One of the protagonists of Leah Stewart's new novel, The New Neighbor, reads mystery novels, and only mystery novels, but she is a snob about them: she only wants to read the best. Well, she would love, love, love The New Neighbor, which is as tense and as tough-minded and as ingeniously structured as our best mystery novels, and our best literary novels, too. A major new book by one of our most psychologically astute writers." Brock Clarke, author of The Happiest People in the World
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“A promising exploration of the secrets we all carry and our refusal to forgive ourselves.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“In simple, elegant language, Leah Stewart draws us to a little pond hidden away in the mountains of Tennessee…[and] never relaxes her tight focus on these complex characters.”—
New York Times Book Review
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“Stewart's prose is remarkable for its well-shaped sentences and nonshowy but sharp observations. Quietly incisive.” Kirkus Reviews
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"Keenly engrossing and multilayered, this mystery and literary-fiction hybrid will elicit rich book-group discussions." Booklist
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“Two women—a snoopy old lady and a young mom with a mysterious past who moves in nearby—discover each others dark secrets.” -Good Housekeeping (“Thrills and Chills”)
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“A truly fine absorbing novel; the finest new novel this reader has discovered so far this season. Highly, highly recommended.”—Hudson Valley News
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“A chilling page-turner.”—People (People Picks)
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“Leah Stewart skillfully captures conversational nuance and family alienation.”—The Charlotte Observer
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“Readers who like an unhurried pace, an element of mystery, and plenty of symbolism will be satisfied as Stewart brings her tale to a surprising conclusion.”—Library Journal
Review
“Intellectual intrigue . . . Stewart also offers the thrill of sharp realism that has characterized her previous novels. She's skilled at creating characters who are all too recognizable in their foibles and desires; she dissects the way ordinary, flawed people think of one another and their social spheres — the silent preferences and judgments that accompany any interaction."—Knoxville News Sentinel
About the Author
Leah Stewart is the critically acclaimed author of The History of Us, Husband and Wife, The Myth of You and Me, and Body of a Girl. The recipient of a Sachs Fund Prize and a NEA Literature Fellowship, she teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Cincinnati and lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two children. Visit her online at LeahStewart.com.