Terrace Story: A Fable About Love and Time
From the author of the acclaimed novel Temporary, an intimate exploration of time, a fable about love, and a work of stunning magical realism for a broken-hearted world
Annie, Edward, and their young daughter, Rose, live in a cramped apartment. One night, without warning, they find a beautiful terrace hidden in their closet. It wasn’t there before, and it seems to only appear when their friend Stephanie visits. A city dweller’s dream come true! But every extra bit of space has a hidden cost, and the terrace sets off a seismic chain of events, forever changing the shape of their tiny home, and the shape of the world.
Terrace Story follows the characters who suffer these repercussions and reverberations: the little family of three, their future now deeply uncertain, and those who orbit their fragile universe. The distance and love between these characters expands limitlessly, across generations, in a sweeping family saga. How far can the mind travel when it’s looking for something that is gone? Where do we put our loneliness, longing, and desire? What do we do with the emotions that seem to stretch beyond the body, beyond the boundaries of life and death?
Based on the National Magazine Award–winning story, Hilary Leichter’s profound second novel asks how we nurture love when death looms over every moment. From one of our most innovative and daring writers, Terrace Story is an astounding meditation on loss, a reverie about extinction, and a piece of metaphysical fiction that serves as a map for where to go next.
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Community Reviews
I started this book expecting one kind of story, and ended it having read something entirely different. The chapters are oriented almost as a collection of short stories, tied together by a common thread, and can function independently at times (perfect if you only have time to read one a day, like me).
The narrative opens by orienting itself on Annie, her husband, and their daughter. Soon, an invitation to a workplace friend reveals a magical terrace that appears in their new home seemingly out of nowhere. Like a fairy tale, things quickly spin out of control for all involved.
What I liked most about this story was how the characters opened up and evolved throughout the book. My perception of them changed as I read more, and their interactions felt so much more meaningful in retrospect. In some ways, this feels reflective of some of the larger themes in “Terrace Story.” Our worlds, as they exist to us, are fairly small. But when you expand them to include the full lives of those around you, more space is added to your own—and the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco Books for the ARC!
The narrative opens by orienting itself on Annie, her husband, and their daughter. Soon, an invitation to a workplace friend reveals a magical terrace that appears in their new home seemingly out of nowhere. Like a fairy tale, things quickly spin out of control for all involved.
What I liked most about this story was how the characters opened up and evolved throughout the book. My perception of them changed as I read more, and their interactions felt so much more meaningful in retrospect. In some ways, this feels reflective of some of the larger themes in “Terrace Story.” Our worlds, as they exist to us, are fairly small. But when you expand them to include the full lives of those around you, more space is added to your own—and the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts.
Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco Books for the ARC!
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