Ocean State

When I was in eighth grade my sister helped kill another girl.



For the Oliviera family - mum Carol, daughters Angel and Marie - autumn 2009 in the once-prosperous beach town of Ashaway, Rhode Island is the worst of times. Money is tight, Carol can't stay away from unsuitable men, Angel's world is shattered when she learns her long-time boyfriend Myles has been cheating on her with classmate Birdy, and Marie is left to fend for herself. As Angel and Birdy, both consumed by the intensity of their feelings for Myles, careen towards a collision both tragic and inevitable, the loyalties of Carol and Marie will be tested in ways they could never have foreseen.



Stewart O'Nan's expert hand has crafted a crushing and propulsive novel about sisters, mothers and daughters, and the desperate ecstasies of love and the terrible things we do for it. Both swoony and haunting, Ocean State is a masterful work by one of the great storytellers of everyday American life.



Stewart O'Nan is the author of numerous books, including West of Sunset, City of Secrets and Henry, Himself. His 2007 novel, Last Night at the Lobster, was a national bestseller and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh, where he lives with his family.



A mesmerising human drama, beautifully observed and compellingly written. The central murder story reminded me of the sublime crime writing of Ruth Rendell, and the insight into the characters' lives is reminiscent of the best of Anne Tyler. In other words, there's so much about this novel that's remarkable, and I urge you to read it



Keeps the reader glued...it's in the excavation of this extraordinary "whydunnit", rather than whodunnit, that O'Nan reveals the mess of inequality and lack of opportunity in contemporary America.



O'Nan is an enticing writer, a master of the illuminatingly mundane moments... O'Nan is subverting the thriller, borrowing its momentum to propel this bracing, chilling novel



Beautifully rendered and heartbreaking...a Shakespearean tragedy told in spare, poetic, insightful prose



Stewart O'Nan's haunting and fleetOcean State tunnels deeply into the heady, hard lives of the vivid young women at its centre. Half-broken and full of longing, these women move us deeply. As the story hurtles toward an act of violence that feels both impossible and inexorable, we find ourselves wanting to stop and protect all of them.



Stewart O'Nan is out to break your heart in the most beautiful way. He is writing with his full power unleashed. This book is a classic.



One of Stewart O'Nan's many gifts is a keen and unflinching eye lit with an abiding compassion for his characters, all of which is on display in his mesmerizing new novel, Ocean State. Set in the forgotten streets of post-industrial, blue collar Rhode Island, this timely and gritty tale takes us deeply into the lives of girls and women who must navigate the kind of loss that can either break or strengthen the ties that bind us all. Ocean State is a gem glittering in the darkness.



What O'Nan has done perhaps better than anybody else the past ten years is deliver the complexity, heartbreak and human drama of everyday people living everyday lives.