A Good Distance

From the award-winning author of Some Things That Stay and The Rehearsal, comes the story of the malleability of memory, of women traveling and trapped, and of mothers and daughters trying their best to negotiate the distance between freedom and love.

Jennifer’s mother really belongs in a home. At least that’s what everyone else thinks—that Rose needs round-the-clock care. But Jennifer has walked away from her mother too many times already, and this is one duty she intends to fulfill herself. She takes a leave of absence from her job and invites her mother to live with her and her family. Her teenage daughter, Jazz, rolls her eyes at her grandmother’s eccentric ways; and Jennifer’s new husband, Todd, tries his hardest to hold his temper whenever Rose lashes out at those around her. And for Rose’s safety, and everyone else’s, delicate and dangerous items are hidden away behind locked doors.

But Rose’s memories are also delicate, and dangerous; they drift in and out of her reach, sometimes comforting her, sometimes tormenting her. Jennifer wants to know about these memories—use these memories to rebuild her mother’s life, remind herself, and her mother, what went wrong, so Jennifer can ask for forgiveness—or is it the other way around?