Explore the latest books of this year!
Bookbot

Polly Dugan

    Polly Dugan's writing captures a moment in time and follows its unfolding aftermath. Her characters, predominantly of Irish Catholic background, are challenged by their flaws, faith, morality, mortality, and circumstances. While animals often appear in her stories, they are not animal stories. Her prose keenly explores the emotional and moral burdens of alcoholism, abortion, and infidelity, seamlessly woven across generations. Dugan skillfully exposes family secrets and examines the ripple effects of emotional choices on the lives of her characters.

    The sweetheart deal
    • 2015

      The sweetheart deal

      • 320 pages
      • 12 hours of reading
      3.4(644)Add rating

      The poignant story of what happens when a woman who thinks she's lost everything has the chance to love again. Leo has long joked that, in the event of his death, he wants his best friend Garrett, a lifelong bachelor, to marry his wife, Audrey. One drunken night, he goes so far as to make Garrett promise to do so. Then, twelve years later, Leo, a veteran firefighter, dies in a skiing accident. As Audrey navigates her new role as widow and single parent, Garrett quits his job in Boston and buys a one-way ticket out west. Before long, Audrey's feelings for Garrett become more than platonic, and Garrett finds himself falling for Audrey, her boys, and their life together in Portland. When Audrey finds out about the drunken pact from years ago, though, the harmless promise that brought Garrett into her world becomes the obstacle to his remaining in it.

      The sweetheart deal