Sleepwalking in Daylight
Mira, March 2009
Bestseller Flock's latest takes a glimpse inside a dysfunctional and affluent Chicago family. Samantha Friedman is an unhappy stay-at-home mother of three and wife to her distant and despondent husband, Bob. Their adopted 17-year-old daughter, Cammy, as unhappy as her mother, has found goth, drugs and sex. The unhappy flailings of the two provide the narrative momentum; Cammy's mopey journals (which include, for better or for worse, her poetry) document her pain and reckless behavior, and Samantha's narration explores her affair with a married man. When Cammy learns the truth about her birth mother and the circumstances of her adoption, she sinks further into despair, and Samantha attempts to connect with her while teetering on the brink of abandoning her marriage. Flock's plot is heavy on the sorrow, though there's a requisitely redemptive ending to lighten the familiar and melancholy arc.
hardcover | ISBN: 9780778325130 | Publication Date: March 2009
Reviews:
"Elizabeth Flock offers us a haunting look at the challenges and
responsibilities of raising a small family in suburban America. This is
a cautionary tale about the perils of narcissism and living in denial.
Once you pick it up, you can't not read it to the very last page. Sleepwalking
in Daylight will be remembered for a very long time."
-New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank
"Have you ever opened your eyes and realized that you've been
sleepwalking through your life? If so, this is the novel for you. Sleepwalking
in Daylight is heartfelt and poignant, unique and memorable.
Elizabeth Flock's characters feel real, her dialogue is first-rate. The
story is rich and resonates long after the last page has been turned.
This novel isn't about the perfection of life, but rather, how life's
imperfections make it all the more precious."
--John Shors, bestselling author of Beneath a Marble Sky
