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 livesPraise 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