Celebrated for her irresistibly witty, strikingly intelligent examinations of friendship and marriage, Lauren Fox (“An immensely gifted writer—a writer adept at capturing the sad-funny mess that happens to be one woman’s life” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times) has written her most powerful novel to date. Days of Awe is the story of a woman who, in the wake of her best friend’s sudden death, must face the crisis in her marriage, the fury of her almost-teenage daughter, and the possibility of opening her cantankerous heart to someone new.

Only a year ago Isabel Moore was married, was the object of adoration for her ten-year-old daughter, and thought she knew everything about her wild, extravagant, beloved best friend, Josie. But in that one short year her husband moved out and rented his own apartment; her daughter grew into a moody insomniac; and Josie—impulsive, funny, secretive Josie—was killed behind the wheel in a single-car accident. As the relationships that long defined Isabel—wife, mother, daughter, best friend—change before her eyes, Isabel must try to understand who she really is.

Teeming with longing, grief, and occasional moments of wild, unexpected joy, Days of Awe is a daring, dazzling book—a luminous exploration of marriage, motherhood, and the often surprising shape of new love.

An Amazon Best Book of August 2015: Days of Awe could be maudlin, it could be filled with clichés about loss and floundering in midlife, worse: it could be dull. Instead, it's wry, smart, shiny, and bright--filled with observations about grief and loss that will make you sit up and begin to underline. In the span of a year Isabel Moore's life comes crashing down: her best friend Josie dies; her marriage crumbles; Hannah, her "sad, snarling wolf cub of a girl" turns against her and she's left to pick up the pieces. In coping with her new life, where "the silence in the house came alive, grew feral" Isabel slides and slips from narrating her present to remembering her past – from the spark of meeting someone new to an eighth grade history assignment, from her husband packing his bags to their troubles conceiving, from her weekly bawdy confessionals with Josie to uncovering Josie's secrets after her death. Despite its hard-hitting and heart-hurting subject matter, Lauren Fox (the accomplished author of Friends Like Us and Still Life With Husband delivers a witty, moving and enjoyable portrait of how motherhood, marriage, friendship and memories keep you barreling forward. –Al Woodworth

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