For fans of Celeste Ng comes a transfixing debut novel about how life’s small decisions can ultimately yield the most powerful consequences.
Everyone always wants to know why relationships fail. It’s a spiteful curiosity thing, schadenfreude, but also a self-preservation thing. People want to understand how to avoid the fall.
The answer is complicated. There isn’t one reason, one event. It has something to do with smoking cigarettes and drinking all night. It takes into account thousands of hours of labour on a small house, projects finished and unfinished. It is late-night conversations and inside jokes and making love and having a child. The answer is wrapped up, shrouded and ensconced in prioritization, ambition and work. Caring about these things is not the problem. Not caring about them is death.
Emma has settled into her hometown bar for the evening. It was in this very room that she met Lucas a few years back, on a blind date. Nine months ago, in unimaginable circumstances, they divorced.
As Emma listens to the locals’ banter, key facts about her life story begin to emerge and the past comes bearing down on her like a freight train.
A powerhouse in the business world, why has she ended up here, now a regular in the last bar on the edge of a small town? What is she running away from? And what is she willing to give up in order to recapture the love she has lost?
As Emma teeters on the edge of oblivion, becoming more booze-soaked by the hour, her night begins to spin out of control with shocking results.
About the Author
Anna Bruno is a writer and teacher at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. Previously, Anna managed public relations and marketing for technology and financial services companies in Silicon Valley. She holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an MBA from Cornell University, and a BA from Stanford University. She lives in Iowa City with her husband, two sons, and blue heeler. Ordinary Hazards is her first novel.
Industry Reviews
‘Seen through keen eyes and full of deep feeling, Ordinary Hazards delves into the psyche of a woman grappling with grief, loss and the burdens of inheritance. Anna Bruno vividly renders the messiness of a single human life in all its joy and heartbreak’ Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
‘Crisp, haunting and intelligent. Beneath the surface of this booze-soaked, small town, dive bar novel lies a devastating story of loss, guilt and grief. Bruno’s narrator proves a dark, funny, unflinching companion as you descend with her, step by step, towards the revelation of what has led her to the bar tonight’ Stephen Markley, author of Ohio
‘It’s rare to read a novel that takes such an unflinching look at grief, self-recrimination and the way people try to put themselves back together after loss’ Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State
‘Each character in Ordinary Hazards bears the weight of their history, and Bruno shows how even the most devastating secrets deserve redemption’ Fatima Mirza, author of A Place for Us
‘Quiet but emotionally engaging, this atmospheric novel has a raft of enduring characters . . . Bruno has a gift for observation which she uses to produce a haunting examination of love, loss and grief’ Daily Mail
‘Impressive . . . a beguiling portrayal of grief’ Prima Magazine
‘Devastating’ Woman’s Way
‘A kaleidoscopic novel of the best variety, spinning into and out of itself as it explores grief, love and loss in ways that will haunt readers long past the last page’ Shelf Awareness
‘Bruno shows a masterful talent for sketching both the outlines and depths of depression, guilt and self-loathing . . . A spellbinding portrait of grief’ Kirkus Reviews
'Echoing the small-town atmospheric work of Richard Russo, Andre Dubus III and Jane Smiley, Bruno's novel introduces a lyrical, earnest and heartfelt voice. For the regulars, or anyone who's walked into a woodpaneled haven and had their drink of choice slid across a well-polished bar without exchanging a word, Ordinary Hazards burns deliciously, but goes down easy' Booklist
'Engrossing . . . Bruno’s thoughtful tale offers memorable insights on the meaning of home' Publishers Weekly
