NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Arriving just in time for the holiday season is this relatable family story of three adult siblings, Martin, Kate and Henry, and their respective spouses and children, who spend the three days before Christmas at Henry's upstate New York home. Narrator Andi Arndt beautifully expresses the complicated inner life of each character, as well as the bonds and tensions that exist among them. Listeners will feel as though they are eavesdropping on the family as they grapple with grief over the loss of a parent, marital strife, financial woes, and career upsets. Arndt's characterizations of males and females are equally skilled, and her pacing varies with the momentum of the narrative. This quietly absorbing family drama is perfect for this time of year. M.J. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
08/08/2022
Three siblings gather with their spouses and children for a fraught Christmas in Strong’s delicate latest (after Want). Martin, the eldest, is a disgraced college professor married to ruthless lawyer Tess. Henry is an artist married to artist turned social worker Alice. Kate, the youngest, is a stay-at-home mom married to the useless Josh, who has recently come to the end of a once considerable inheritance. Everyone gathers at Henry and Alice’s house in upstate New York; it’s their first Christmas together since their mother, Helen, died eight months earlier. Tensions rise: Kate wants to live in Helen’s house in Florida until her kids are off to college, but she needs her brothers to agree. Henry and Alice can’t have kids; the other two families are knee-deep in child-rearing, and, meanwhile, Alice is inappropriately attached to a child named Maddie, one of her clients. A disappearance midway through amplifies the plot, but the theme of grief takes center stage, as Helen’s memory permeates the gathering. Strong is adept as characterizing this loss in all its manifestations, and in rendering the challenges inherent in three families trying to celebrate together; upon arrival, Tess “wishes this visit were over.” Of course, the drama and fully formed characters make readers feel otherwise. Once again, Strong demonstrates her talents for perception and nuance. Agent: Sarah Bowlin, Aevitas Creative. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Quickly, deftly, Strong lays out the financial, emotional and sexual complexities of the three marriages and draws each of the family members for us. The children are as clearly differentiated as the adults, which is not an easy thing to do. Part of the sense of life in the book comes from Strong’s distinctive prose style—compressed, telegraphic and gestural, one in which the sharp noticing of what might otherwise seem like ordinary details about a character or an exchange takes on a resonating depth.” — New York Times Book Review
“Strong is an exacting observer of families and their idiosyncrasies, in the mode of Anne Tyler and Jonathan Franzen. … Strong keeps Flight in motion with twists of language and revelation. … More than just a domestic tale, it is a larger portrait of hearts and minds at war with the tedium of everydayness and the rote routines of relationships. … Grab a mug of egg nog, good readers, and dive in.” — Washington Post
“Psychologically astute, deeply affecting. … Lynn Steger Strong’s writing is economical but packs a gut punch… Emotionally transcendent.” — Boston Globe
“It’s fall, season of Big Family Sagas, and Strong delivers. … Pages [fly] quickly by as the story takes off.” — Los Angeles Times
"With deft, discerning prose, Strong writes beautifully about mothers and the struggles, fears, and joys of motherhood. ... As the novel comes to a close, Strong offers moments of connection among the family members that feel genuine and earned. A quiet domestic novel that soars." — Kirkus Reviews
“A fateful few days in the life of two families becomes in Lynn Steger Strong’s hands a clear-eyed examination of our current moment. Flight probes deeply into grief and its aftershocks, what binds us to one another, the meaning of art itself. It's a book whose fleet movements belie its ambition. Suspenseful, dazzling and moving.” — Rumaan Alam
“Lynn Steger Strong is a master of family life, a wise chronicler of economic struggles real and imagined, of dreams versus responsibilities, and of nuances in relationships of all kinds. Arresting and powerful, Flight examines the possibility and pain of fierce love and hope in our time of looming existential threats.” — Lily King
"With razor-sharp pacing and luminous prose, Lynn Steger Strong aims her keen eye on the complexities of siblings, marriage, motherhood and grief. Flight is a wonderfully alive look at the ways we try—defiantly and sometimes perilously—to love one another. You will want to gulp this book down in one sitting, but I urge you to slow down because its charms should be savored." — Cynthia D'Aprix-Sweeney
"Breathtakingly propulsive and insightful, Flight gripped me from the very first page and didn’t let go. Strong is a writer who makes me feel reconfigured, more sharply attuned to the business of being alive; as if I have nerve endings that didn’t exist before reading her. Flight is a story about how we lose and find each other again—and how this finding is never done, because we are, all of us, many selves at once.” — Leslie Jamison
“A gorgeous novel, both intimate and expansive. Flight is packed full of wisdom about family, marriage, class, climate, love and loss. Lynn Steger Strong is a master of creating characters so funny, flawed and true that they feel like people you know. I couldn’t put it down.” — J. Courtney Sullivan
“In her brilliant new novel, Lynn Steger Strong reaches astonishing new depths of moral complexity in her depiction of family life in the aftermath of loss. Gripping, tender, and very funny, Flight proves once again that she is one of the great chroniclers of our strange and perilous times.” — Andrew Martin, author of Early Work
"Richly painted and powerfully poignant." — Good Housekeeping
“Strong is adept as characterizing this loss in all its manifestations, and in rendering the challenges inherent in three families trying to celebrate together. … Once again, Strong demonstrates her talents for perception and nuance.” — Publishers Weekly
"A compelling portrait of how love and resentment are often twin sides of the same coin...Steger Strong has a raw and unflinching originality." — Vogue
“[Strong’s] characters feel both familiar and unique, and she is skilled at creating subtly devastating moments mixed with hope and tenderness. Written during a time of intense isolation, Flight reminds us that there is power in community, family, and those special times in which we don’t have to do anything but be human.” — Booklist
“An intimate exploration of complicated family dynamics featuring nuanced portraits of distinct characters. It’s a perfect book for anyone who feels more than a little conflicted about going to visit family for the holidays. With compassion and a deep sense of understanding, Flight explores the nature of belonging, and what it means to truly be part of a community.” — Buzzfeed
“A Family Stone-like turn.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“I am delighted to report that [FLIGHT] was even better than I hoped. ... This is the book to pack for any ‘flight’ you take this holiday season.” — Good Morning America
“Incredibly propulsive and filled with razor-sharp insights, Lynn Steger Strong shows us the power of familial love and care, which can support us through the plentiful failings of modern life.” — Chicago Review of Books
“Nuanced and multidimensional. … The myriad fissures, fractures and worries are what make this family drama feel utterly real.” — BookPage
"Tightly plotted and vividly rendered." — USA Today
Wall Street Journal on Want
"The physical grind of economic precarity is palpable in the writing’s rough texture, its bluntness. . . . The Brooklyn novel is a necessarily provincial thing, but Want often feels like something larger, a portrayal of generational dispossession, or of the American Dream moving in reverse."
Entertainment Weekly on Want
"A devouring read."
New York Times on Want
Moving… As a narrator, Elizabeth is smart and funny and literary to the marrow."
Cynthia D'Aprix-Sweeney
"With razor-sharp pacing and luminous prose, Lynn Steger Strong aims her keen eye on the complexities of siblings, marriage, motherhood and grief. Flight is a wonderfully alive look at the ways we try—defiantly and sometimes perilously—to love one another. You will want to gulp this book down in one sitting, but I urge you to slow down because its charms should be savored."
Rumaan Alam
A fateful few days in the life of two families becomes in Lynn Steger Strong’s hands a clear-eyed examination of our current moment. Flight probes deeply into grief and its aftershocks, what binds us to one another, the meaning of art itself. It's a book whose fleet movements belie its ambition. Suspenseful, dazzling and moving.
Leslie Jamison
"Breathtakingly propulsive and insightful, Flight gripped me from the very first page and didn’t let go. Strong is a writer who makes me feel reconfigured, more sharply attuned to the business of being alive; as if I have nerve endings that didn’t exist before reading her. Flight is a story about how we lose and find each other again—and how this finding is never done, because we are, all of us, many selves at once.
Vulture
"Lynn Steger Strong’s Want is a defining novel of our age of left-behind families. . . .as if Anne Helen Peterson’s viral burnout article and John Steinbeck’s oeuvre had a baby. . . an ideal sample of how to produce fiction that is timely and timeless.
J. Courtney Sullivan
A gorgeous novel, both intimate and expansive. Flight is packed full of wisdom about family, marriage, class, climate, love and loss. Lynn Steger Strong is a master of creating characters so funny, flawed and true that they feel like people you know. I couldn’t put it down.
Lily King
Lynn Steger Strong is a master of family life, a wise chronicler of economic struggles real and imagined, of dreams versus responsibilities, and of nuances in relationships of all kinds. Arresting and powerful, Flight examines the possibility and pain of fierce love and hope in our time of looming existential threats.
Library Journal
07/01/2022
It's not a jolly Christmas for siblings Henry, Kate, and Martin, gathered at Henry's house after their mother's death. Bitterly held resentments swarm to the surface as they consider what to do with their mother's house, their sole inheritance, but a local mother's financial need refocuses their attention. Following the multi-best-booked Want; with a 100,000-copy first printing.
NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile
Arriving just in time for the holiday season is this relatable family story of three adult siblings, Martin, Kate and Henry, and their respective spouses and children, who spend the three days before Christmas at Henry's upstate New York home. Narrator Andi Arndt beautifully expresses the complicated inner life of each character, as well as the bonds and tensions that exist among them. Listeners will feel as though they are eavesdropping on the family as they grapple with grief over the loss of a parent, marital strife, financial woes, and career upsets. Arndt's characterizations of males and females are equally skilled, and her pacing varies with the momentum of the narrative. This quietly absorbing family drama is perfect for this time of year. M.J. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-08-02
Three siblings bring their families together to celebrate the first Christmas after their mother’s death.
When Helen, their strong, opinionated, bighearted mother, dies suddenly, siblings Henry, Kate, and Martin and their spouses are left unmoored by her absence. Gathering at Henry and Alice’s home in upstate New York, the family hopes to keep Helen’s traditions alive while navigating holiday stress, interpersonal drama, and the unsettled nature of their inheritance: their childhood home in Florida. The house, however, is not the only tension within the group. Henry, an artist, spends long days constructing a flock of clay birds and fretting over climate change, while Alice, a social worker, ruminates on their childless life after years of fertility treatments. Struggling with their differing opinions about ambition and parenting, Martin and Tess live in New York City with their two kids. Kate and Josh, who have found themselves on the wrong end of bad financial investments, hope to move into Helen’s house with their three children. Despite being set over just three days, Strong's book manages to distill the essences of not only the characters, but of their decades of shared history and the complicated, complex relationships among them. Above all else, the family loved Helen, and in the wake of her death, they must navigate the new dynamic and learn how to love one another again. Across town, Quinn and her daughter, Madeleine—Alice's clients—are relearning how to be a family, too, after Quinn temporarily lost custody of the girl. When Madeleine goes missing, the siblings spring into action to find her—and, in the process, begin to gain perspective about their own lives and relationships. With deft, discerning prose, Strong writes beautifully about mothers and the struggles, fears, and joys of motherhood. At one point, Kate confesses the depth of her grief to Tess: “But she’s the only person in the world who ever saw me the way she saw me, who loved me like that, who remembered me as all the things I’d ever been and also thought of me as all the things she still thought I might become.” As the novel comes to a close, Strong offers moments of connection among the family members that feel genuine and earned.
A quiet domestic novel that soars.
