Bøger af Alexandra Marshall

"Marshall has the essential novelist's gift, the creation of vivid characters," said the New York Times. In her new novel, she has again created a cast both real and vibrant. At sixty-three, Judge Gregory Brennan is on the brink of retirement. With his youngest daughter headed for college, he envisions traveling abroad, basking in a repose that his demanding career has not allowed, with his wife, Audrey, at his side. But Audrey has other ambitions. At forty-nine, she sees the mythic empty nest as an opportunity to explore her own potential - as a medical student. When Audrey reveals her plans, Gregory is overwhelmed, and he emotionally retreats, causing a rift that neither one of them ever anticipated. Marshall has been praised for her insight into the complexities of modern marriage, capturing it as "an institution about competing needs and shifting wants" (Baltimore Sun). In The Court of Common Pleas, marriage is not unlike the general trial court where Gregory presides. But the ruling in Gregory and Audrey's own case remains to be seen. Can their disparate life plans be mediated and their differences reconciled? Marshall offers a nuanced portrait of a marriage in the throes of a midlife crisis and reveals, with an encompassing kindness, the tenderness, frustration, bewilderment, and ultimately the joy of a marriage willed to endure.

The Silence Of Your Name tracks one woman's journey from her young husband's unexpected suicide during their trip to Ghana all the way through to her life as a writer, finding love and redemption at home and abroad.

This is a story about a man who becomes a widower and must raise his two children alone. Luke and the children have become reclusive. After their mother's death, Ben and Sarah have no desire to celebrate Christmas.A Christmas tree lot, owned by a kind, elderly man, is visited by the people in the village each Christmas. There are shops and cafes offering cider, cocoa, and coffee adjacent to the tree lot. The Christmas Tree Man notices that Luke and his children have not come to buy a tree. He sends a gift to the family. One year passes, and the second year, as Christmastime arrives, he notes that they did not buy a tree and decides to visit the family.A third Christmas approaches, the children seem happier and tell Luke that they want a Christmas tree this year. Soon thereafter, they go to the Christmas tree lot and pick out a tree. It is a very unusual tree. As they go inside the shop to pay for it, a beautiful lady offers them some hot cocoa. It is Mary, the Christmas Tree Man's daughter. Luke and Mary are instantly attracted to each other, and soon begin a relationship. The children remark that Mary looks like a woman in their dreams.The very special tree that the children have picked out is planted outside, near the small village church.For the first time in three years, Ben and Sarah want to decorate the home for Christmas and send Christmas cards. Luke is very happy.Christmas Eve arrives and after church, Luke and the children are invited to dinner with the Christmas Tree Man and Mary. That evening, Luke and Mary become engaged. Everyone is elated.In the spring, a wedding is held in the small village church. The sun shines through the stained glass windows of the church and fills the ground by the little Christmas tree with hues of color, creating a wondrous scene of beauty.