Amanda Eyre Ward's debut novel is an intimate portrait of three women whose lives collide during a brutal Texas summer.

In Gatestown, Texas, twenty-nine-year-old Karen Lowens awaits her execution with a host of convicted serial killers on death row. In Manhattan, Dr. Franny Wren, also twenty-nine, tends to a young cancer patient, and resists the urge to run from her fiance and her carefully crafted life. In Austin, Texas, brassy Celia Mills, a once-vibrant librarian, mourns her murdered husband.

Over the course of the summer, fate pushes these eerily recognizable women together, culminating in a revelation of the possibility of faith, the responsibility of friendship, and the value of life. Sleep Toward Heaven is a luminous story of murder and desire, solitude and grace -- a rare literary page-turner where redemption seems perpetually within arm's reach.

'Electrifying, a literary whodunit of the first order.' Justin Cronin, bestselling author of 'The Passage'. The savage murder of eight-year-old Lauren's mother, and the sentencing of her father Izaan to life imprisonment for the murder, tears her world apart. As an adult, she can't understand why she has panic attacks, is unable to accept her boyfriend's marriage proposal, or listen to her brother Alex's attempt to convince her of their father's innocence and wrongful imprisonment. Meanwhile, Sylvia Hall is running away from her loser boyfriend, determined to keep the baby he doesn't want. She knows her best friend since childhood, Victoria, will help her - but Victoria has her own problems that threaten to consume her. All three women are connected by tragedy and betrayal. Based on a true story, 'Close Your Eyes' is a heart-breaking page-turner about what happens when a family is destroyed.

From San Francisco to Savannah, Montana to Texas, Amanda Eyre Ward's characters are united in their fervent search to find a place where they truly belong. Annie, a librarian in a small mining town, must choose between the only home she's ever known and the possibility of a new future. Casey, a suburban New Yorker with a wry sense of humor, braves the dating scene after losing her husband. And in six linked stories spanning a decade of her life, Lola Wilkerson navigates elopement, motherhood, and lingering questions about who she wants to be when she grows up. Whether exploring the fierceness of a mother's love or the consolations of marriage, Amanda Eyre Ward's stories are imbued with humor, clear-eyed insight, and emotional richness.

A stunning and compelling novel of love and ambition. Nadine is a 35-year-old journalist at a crossroads in her life. She longs for Pulitzer-prize winning success but her career seems to be going nowhere until the story of a lifetime comes up. Faced with the choice of following the story and leaving behind her boyfriend, who has just proposed, she leaves America for Capetown. There she meets war photographer George, whose rage at the death of his lover during apartheid seems bottomless. As events unfold, Nadine discovers she is pregnant and is forced to choose whether to return home to a secure married life with her boyfriend or pursue a life of independence and adventure - a life like George's... Set partly in Mandela's South Africa, where individuals must weigh the cost of following their dreams against the high price of truth, 'Forgive Me' is the unputdownable story of a woman who has to decide between security and adventure in life and love.

From the acclaimed author of "How to Be Lost" comes a gorgeous new novel about love, memory, and motherhood.
Nadine Morgan travels the world as a journalist, covering important events, following dangerous leads, and running from anything that might tie her down. Since an assignment in Cape Town ended in tragedy and regret, Nadine has not returned to South Africa, or opened her heart-until she hears the story of Jason Irving.
Jason, an American student, was beaten to death by angry local youths at the height of the apartheid era. Years later, his mother is told that Jason's killers have applied for amnesty. Jason's parents pack their bags and fly from Nantucket to Cape Town. Filled with rage, Jason's mother resolves to fight the murderers' pleas for forgiveness.
As Nadine follows the Irvings to beautiful, ghost-filled South Africa, she is flooded with memories of a time when the pull toward adventure and intrigue left her with a broken heart. Haunted by guilt and a sense of remorse, and hoping to lose herself in her coverage of the murder trial, Nadine grows closer to Jason's mother as well as to the mother of one of Jason's killers-with profound consequences. In a country both foreign and familiar, Nadine is forced to face long-buried demons, come to terms with the missing pieces of her own family past, and learn what it means to truly love and to forgive.
With her dazzling prose and resonant themes, Amanda Eyre Ward has joined the ranks of such beloved American novelists as Anne Tyler and Ann Patchett. Gripping, darkly humorous, and luminous, "Forgive Me" is an unforgettable story of dreams and longing, betrayal and redemption.

"From the Hardcover edition."

In Gatestown, Texas, twenty-nine-year-old Karen awaits her execution on Death Row. In New York, Franny, a doctor the same age, plans her wedding and tries to resist the urge to run. In Austin, Celia, a beautiful young librarian, mourns her lost husband. Over the course of one summer, the three women's disparate lives intertwine. Karen, Franny and Celia all struggle to find their place in a world where nothing is sure, as they move towards one night that will change them all forever. A heart-stopping page-turner about love and forgiveness, Sleep Toward Heaven is unforgettable. Praise for Sleep Toward Heaven'Ward's no-nonsense, unflinching prose and her complex but never confounding structure make this novel very tough to put down. But her greater triumph is her ability to humanize all these characters.'Pam Houston, "O" The Oprah Magazine'It's funny and sad and redemptive. Read it now. Thank me later.'Jennifer Weiner, the New York Times bestselling author of Good in Bed and In Her Shoes'Women's Death Row as you have never seen it; hauntingly rich, wise and sharply etched.' James Ellroy'How do we forgive the unforgivable? First-time novelist Ward explores this question with a delicate blend of compassion, humour and realism-Her spare but psychologically rich portraits are utterly convincing.' Publishers Weekly

A family reunited on a holiday of a lifetime . . . what could possibly go wrong? A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A 2020 REESE WITHERSPOON HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK When Charlotte Perkins enters the 'Become a Jetsetter' contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist; and Regan, a harried mother who has never got over Charlotte's gift of a Weight Watchers voucher for her birthday. But when she wins that once in a lifetime trip, all doesn't exactly go to plan... As long-buried secrets are revealed, and lovers new and old appear, can these four lost adults find their way back to each other? And more importantly, can they do it without killing each other? A hilarious and deliciously sun-scented novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves and the pleasures and perils of family. __________________________________ WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE JETSETTERS 'This is the novel I never realized I absolutely needed! The Jetsetters had me from the very first page!' Amazon Reader 'Funny, yet sensitive and heartbreaking all at the same time. We can all identify with family crisis of some sort. And as we would in our own family, we root for them all, feel their pain and embarrassment, and hope they can put their baggage away and become better people and a new family' Amazon Reader 'What could possibly go wrong on a family cruise? Anything and everything. Funny and a little heart wrenching with characters that will be hard to forget. Happy reading!' Amazon Reader 'Ms. Ward writes at a lively pace as she weaves through the Perkins' trials and tribulations. For any fan of a well-written story that resonates with the reader long after you finish the final page, I highly recommend this book' Amazon Reader 'Amanda Eyre Ward creates a great escape. The Perkins family are all a hot mess that you can't help but watch' Amazon Reader

For most of her life, Lauren Mahdian has been certain of two things: that her mother is dead, and that her father is a murderer. Startling revelations force her to peek under the floorboards of her carefully constructed memories.

'Puts a human face to the story of undocumented youth desperately seeking their dreams in America. This one's going to haunt me for a long time' Jodi Picoult A beautiful and heartrending novel about motherhood, resilience, and faith-a ripped-from-the-headlines story of two families on both sides of the American border. Carla is a strong-willed young girl who's had to grow up fast, acting as caretaker to her six-year-old brother Junior. Years ago, her mother left the family behind in Honduras to make the arduous, illegal journey to Texas. But when Carla's grandmother dies and violence in the city escalates, Carla takes fate into her own hands-and with Junior, she joins the thousands of children making their way across Mexico to America, facing great peril for the chance at a better life. Alice and her husband, Jake, own a barbecue restaurant in Austin, Texas. Hardworking and popular in their community, they have a loving marriage and thriving business, but Alice still feels that something is missing, lying just beyond reach.