A Slender Thread

Table of Contents

 

 

 

“In
A Slender Thread
, Katharine Davis illuminates the threads that tie us to family and the ones we loved. She reminds us of both their fragility and their strength. A beautiful book.”

—Ann Hood, author of
The Red Thread
and
The Knitting Circle

 

“Luminous and deeply affecting.... In this novel of the complex bonds of sisters and the pernicious effects of a rare illness, Katharine Davis memorably captures the language of family. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and it was a pleasaure to watch it take shape.

—Susan Coll, author of
Beach Week
and
Acceptance

 

“With a sure, light touch and a shrewd eye for telling details, Katharine Davis expertly weaves a resonant story about the bonds of family, the tug of geography, and the regenerative power of art.
A Slender Thread
is an emotionally rich and penetrating novel.”

—Christina Baker Kline, author of
Bird in Hand
and
The Way Life Should Be

 

“The multiple viewpoints of Katharine Davis's
A Slender Thread
weave in and out of chapters like threads in a tapestry, illustrating the intricate, complicated ties that bind us as family. While this compelling story shows just how fragile—and therefore precious—are our connections to each other, Davis also shows that even the slenderest of threads can have the surprising strength and resilience to hold it (and us) together.”

—Katrina Kittle, author of
The Blessings of the Animals

 

“With a delicate and loving touch, Katharine Davis explores a deep and often complex relationship—the one between two sisters. Like the tapestry that becomes central to the story itself,
A Slender Thread
is a beautiful and utterly original creation.... Emotionally honest, meticulously observed, but also propulsively dramatic and readable, this is a novel that will resonate with women of all ages—and with everyone who loves a good story, well told. If you have sisters, you'll want to share
A Slender Thread
with them. If you don't, it will serve as solace—and a powerful testament—to what you are missing.”

—Liza Gyllenhall, author of
Local Knowledge

 

 

“Katharine Davis has written an utterly irresistible novel, suffused with the special light and clarity of Maine. A book about second chances and real love, with characters as complicated as we really are. I couldn't put it down.”

—Lee Smith,
New York Times
bestselling author of
On Agate Hill

 

“Katharine Davis has created an elegant and compelling tale about loss, love, and, of course, hope. Her characters are rich, her story is gripping, and her prose beautiful and effortless.”

—Joanne Rendell, author of
Crossing Washington Square

 

“
East Hope
is a charming love story, delightfully old-fashioned with a very modern twist. Katharine Davis captures Maine not just as a setting but as the character it is.”

—Lily King, author of
The English Teacher

 

“Katharine Davis's captivating novel of loss and recovery follows a forty-four-year-old woman from a long-settled life into one that is anything but certain. The author's clean prose suits the spare setting in which most of this struggle takes place—a small seaside village in Maine. Her keen sensitivity to the people and countryside in that remote place vividly evokes its power to reshape her character's life, slowly but radically, much as the sea reshapes the shoreline.”

—Kate Maloy, author of
Every Last Cuckoo

 

“Davis's lyrical prose brings authenticity to the journey of two lonely souls trying to reinvent themselves in middle age.”

—
Booklist

 

 

“The layered experience and sensibilities of Americans in Paris are captured marvelously in this haunting and evocative novel by Katharine Davis. Reminiscent of William Maxwell's
The Château
,
Capturing Paris
is an impressive debut.”

—Katharine Weber, author of
True Confections

 

“In this graceful and atmospheric first novel, Katharine Davis explores a question that fascinates us all: What if I had chosen differently, when I still had my choices to make? Through Annie's reinvention of herself in a time of flux, we see anew the consequences of deciding to be who we are, and the consequences of questioning all that we have been.”

—Carolyn Parkhurst, author of
Lost and Found

 

“In
Capturing Paris
, we meet Annie Reed, poet and wife, navigating through a year of upheaval. Through it all, her adopted city of Paris glows, with its abundance of charm, quirks, and moods, all beautifully captured in Katharine Davis's sensitive observations.”

—Leslie Pietrzyk, author of
A Year and a Day

 

“Dreamy and sentimental, readers with a soft spot for the city of lights will want to give this a look.”

—
Publishers Weekly

OTHER BOOKS BY KATHARINE DAVIS

NAL Accent

Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

First published by NAL Accent, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First Printing, August 2010

Copyright © Katharine Davis, 2010
Conversation Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2010

All rights reserved

 

Lines from “A shady friend—for Torrid days” by Emily Dickinson
Franklin, ed., Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
Copyright © 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

 

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

 

Davis, Katharine.
A slender thread/Katharine Davis.
p. cm.

ISBN : 978-1-101-56501-8

1. Sisters—Fiction. 2. Aphasic persons—Fiction. 3. Life change events—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3604.A967S58 2010
813'.6—dc22 2010009830

 

 

 

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.