B&N Community

The car accident that killed the boy wasn't Alison's fault, but in a sense, that really didn't matter. That bloody knot simply exposed all the wounds in her, her marriage, and her friendships. She is devastated when she learns that Charlie, her husband and father of two, is in the sudden throes of an affair with Claire, her lifelong best friend from North Carolina. Claire is also married, though childless and less than perfectly matched with her architect husband Ben. The lives of these two couples have interlocked for more than a decade; but only now, with both marriages crumbling, do all the lies and underlying tension come into focus. Threading individual monologues, Cristina Baker Kline's Bird in Hand leads us down paths we would prefer not to go in real life, but her artistry and full-bodied portrayals make reading this novel of domestic dysfunction ultimately a fulfilling experience.