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Two sisters, lost youth, and old obsessions—a “compassionate, lyrical portrait of grief, longing, and love” that unfolds over the course of one day as a Jewish family sits shiva (Refinery29). Bohemian New Yorker Eve returns to her Toronto hometown to mourn the death of her more successful sister in this award-winning novel that’s “like a darker, sexier Little Women” (Forward).
In her 30s, Eve is summoned home by her distraught family to mourn the premature death of her sister, Tam—a return that becomes an unexpected encounter with the past. Eve bears the burden of a secret: Two weeks before Tam died, Eve and Tam argued so vehemently that they did not speak again. Her sister was famous, acclaimed for her career as a TV journalist and her devoted marriage. But Tam, too, had a secret, revealed the day after the funeral, one that inverts the story Eve has told herself since their childhood. In the aftermath, Eve is forced to revise her version of her fractured family, her sister’s accomplishments and vaunted marriage, and her own impeded ambition in work and love.
Day by day as the family sits
shiva, the stories unfold, illuminating the past to shape the present.
Evening explores the dissonant love between sisters, the body in longing, the pride we take in sustaining our illusions, and the redemption that is possible only when they are dispelled.
The paperback edition features a reading group guide for book clubs.
About the author
Nessa Rapoport was born in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of a novel,
Preparing for Sabbath, and a collection of prose poems,
A Woman’s Book of Grieving. Her memoir,
House on the River, was awarded a grant by the Canada Council for the Arts. Her essays and reviews have appeared in
The New York Times and the
Los Angeles Times, among others. She lives in New York with her husband, artist Tobi Kahn.
Summary
Two sisters, lost youth, and old obsessions—a “compassionate, lyrical portrait of grief, longing, and love” that unfolds over the course of one day as a Jewish family sits shiva (Refinery29).
Bohemian New Yorker Eve returns to her Toronto hometown to mourn the death of her more successful sister in this award-winning novel that’s “like a darker, sexier Little Women” (Forward).
In her 30s, Eve is summoned home by her distraught family to mourn the premature death of her sister, Tam—a return that becomes an unexpected encounter with the past. Eve bears the burden of a secret: Two weeks before Tam died, Eve and Tam argued so vehemently that they did not speak again. Her sister was famous, acclaimed for her career as a TV journalist and her devoted marriage. But Tam, too, had a secret, revealed the day after the funeral, one that inverts the story Eve has told herself since their childhood. In the aftermath, Eve is forced to revise her version of her fractured family, her sister’s accomplishments and vaunted marriage, and her own impeded ambition in work and love.
Day by day as the family sits shiva, the stories unfold, illuminating the past to shape the present. Evening explores the dissonant love between sisters, the body in longing, the pride we take in sustaining our illusions, and the redemption that is possible only when they are dispelled.
The paperback edition features a reading group guide for book clubs.
