Redhead by the Side of the Road

This is Anne Tyler at her best; perfect for fans of uplit fiction like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Clock Dance has sold over 94,000 copies across formatsA Spool of Blue Thread was a major phenomenon – bestseller in hardback and paperback (400,000 copies across editions), Man Booker shortlist, Bailey's shortlist, Richard & Judy pick. Her profile is on a high, she's got lots of new fans'If Anne Tyler isn't the best writer in the world, who is?' BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour

Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her bestselling novels include Breathing Lessons, The Accidental Tourist, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Ladder of Years, Back When We Were Grown-ups, Digging to America, A Spool of Blue Thread, Clock Dance and Redhead by the Side of the Road.

In 1989 she won the Pulitzer Prize; in 1994 she was nominated by Roddy Doyle and Nick Hornby as 'the greatest novelist writing in English'; and in 2012 she received the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence. In 2015 A Spool of Blue Thread was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and the Booker Prize; and in 2020 Redhead by the Side of the Road was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

'If Anne Tyler isn't the best writer in the world, who is?' BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour

A perfect love story for imperfect people.

Micah Mortimer measures out his days running errands for work, maintaining an impeccable cleaning regime and going for runs (7:15, every morning). He is in a long-term relationship with his woman friend Cassia, but they live apart. His carefully calibrated life is regular, steady, balanced.

But then the order of things starts to tilt. Cassia is threatened with eviction, and when a teenager shows up at Micah's door claiming to be his son, he is confronted with another surprise he seems poorly equipped to handle.

Can Micah, a man to whom those around him always seem just out of reach, find a way back to his perfectly imperfect love story?

** BOOK OF THE YEAR Sunday Times, Daily Express, Times, Daily Telegraph, Good Housekeeping, Metro, Spectator, New Statesman**

** LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020**
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PRAISE FOR REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD:
'A book this lovely feels practically heaven-sent' Daily Mail
'Comfort reading of the best sort' Irish Times
'Tyler packs feeling and insight into every single sentence' Good Housekeeping
'Anne Tyler has the ability to take the minutiae of characters' lives and say wise things about the human condition that other writers can only dream of' Stylist
'Bursting with vitality and variety, it's a tour-de-force' Sunday Times
'I love Anne Tyler...I've read every single book she's written' Jacqueline Wilson
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Readers LOVE this book:
'If you like a simply told tale that drips with heart and heartache and life and empathy and gentle humour then you can't go wrong with this'
'Anne Tyler excels in her grasp of the low key ordinary everyday lives of her characters and their relationships, as she demonstrates in this beautifully observed and astute novel'
'Not many authors can make everyday life so interesting and entertaining, and long may Anne Tyler continue to do so.'

Bursting with vitality and variety, it's a tour de force . . . characters almost leap off the page with authenticity, speech and body language wonderfully caughtTyler’s piercing omniscience is on full, enthralling displayA book this lovely feels practically heaven-sent…. Crisp and direct, yet full of subtle touches, it’s a big-hearted tale of roads not taken — a delight from start to finishAnne Tyler really is the best. This reads as if she wrote it in one flawless seamless sitting. The sheer brilliance of making it all seem so effortlessAlmost unbearably poignant . . . a moving and perceptive story about one man’s inability to connect with others and his gradual move towards greater self-fulfilment