LoveReading Says
Beautiful Delilah’s arrival on a one-village island off Cape Cod (“not the tropical breeze and swaying palm tree kind”, but the “sea gusts and unexpected hurricanes...Atlantic kind”) creates restless ripples among the islanders. She’s an outsider and, since this is the kind of place where everyone knows each other and each other’s business, Delilah is subject to the scrutiny and suspicions of locals who pass comment on all she does and how she does it. “She showed no sign of employment - or any sign of being independently wealthy”, and she even plants a garden at the front of her house. The front - such scandal! Delilah is alone but for occasional weekend visits from her boyfriend, until she becomes close to the island’s sheriff, who gives her gardening advice (and more), but it’s her unconventional, slow-to-emerge relationship with a reclusive neighbour - also the subject of gossip and wild speculation – that creates the most life-changing ripples.
Tense, earthy, calmly commanding and written with refreshing clarity, this is a spellbinding triumph of short fiction.
Joanne Owen
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The Driveway Has Two Sides Synopsis
On an East Coast island, full of tall pine moaning with sea gusts, Delilah moves into a cottage by the shore. The neighbours gossip as they watch her cleaning, black hair tied back in a white rubber band. They don't like it when she plants a garden out front - orange-red Carpinus caroliniana and silvery-blue hosta. Very unusual, they whisper. Across the driveway lives a man who never goes out. Delilah knows he's watching her too and she likes the look of him, but perhaps life is too complicated already...
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Sara Marchant Press Reviews
'This deft, devourable novella is one part Barbara Pym, one part Patricia Highsmith, and all parts Sara Marchant.' - Jill Alexander Essbaum, author of Hausfrau;
'This story unfolds beautifully, with a balance of mystery and wry insight that keeps you turning the pages.' - Mary Yukari Waters, author of The Laws of Evening;
'Sara Marchant is the kind of writer we need for these times: her scathing intelligence, refusal to engage with sentimentality, and generous, inclusive view of what makes people's lives matter restores my belief in the power of story to change the world.' - Emily Rapp, author of The Still Point of the Turning World;
'With radiant humanity, humour, and spiky powers of observation, Sara Marchant illuminates the wild and enigmatic nature of attraction.' - Mary Otis, author of Yes, Yes, Cherries
About Sara Marchant
Sara Marchant is a published author of short stories. She lives in the high desert of Southern California with her husband, two dogs, a goat, and five chickens.
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