The Distinguished Guest

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At the age of seventy-two, Lily Roberts suddenly became a national celebrity on writing her first book - a spiritual memoir. But her new-found fame was not well received by her children - her architect son Alan, and wayward daughter, Clary - who were profoundly disturbed by Lily's intimate revelations about her married life. Ten years on, their resentment is still raw, and, when Lily, now ill and frail, comes to live with Alan and his own family, the bitter legacy of their very different memories threatens to upset the precarious balance of their lives ... In the great North American tradition of Carol Shields, Anne Tyler and Jane Smiley, Sue Miller has created a potent portrait of family life, of the ties that bind people together, and the lies that pull them apart. "A rare pleasure ... uncommonly gripping ... deeply felt ... remarkable." NEW YORK NEWSDAY "Miller depicts her characters with grace and elegance. 'The Distinguished Guest' gathers momentum page by page, through a layering of detail. It is an audacious and subtly experimental book ... very moving." NEW YORK TIMES "Full of striking revelations ... as canny as Miller can be about the rigors of family relationships, it's the notion of storytelling itself that is most intriguing in this graceful book." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE