The Ramblers
Aiden Donnelley Rowley, 2016
HarperCollins
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062413314
Summary
A gorgeous and absorbing novel of a trio of confused souls struggling to find themselves and the way forward in their lives, set against the spectacular backdrop of contemporary New York City.
Set in the most magical parts of Manhattan—the Upper West Side, Central Park, Greenwich Village—The Ramblers explores the lives of three lost souls, bound together by friendship and family.
During the course of one fateful Thanksgiving week, a time when emotions run high and being with family can be a mixed blessing, Rowley’s sharply defined characters explore the moments when decisions are deliberately made, choices accepted, and pasts reconciled.
Clio Marsh, whose bird-watching walks through Central Park are mentioned in New York Magazine, is taking her first tentative steps towards a relationship while also looking back to the secrets of her broken childhood. Her best friend, Smith Anderson, the seemingly-perfect daughter of one of New York’s wealthiest families, organizes the lives of others as her own has fallen apart. And Tate Pennington has returned to the city, heartbroken but determined to move ahead with his artistic dreams.
Rambling through the emotional chaos of their lives, this trio learns to let go of the past, to make room for the future and the uncertainty and promise that it holds.
The Ramblers is a love letter to New York City—an accomplished, sumptuous novel about fate, loss, hope, birds, friendship, love, the wonders of the natural world and the mysteries of the human spirit. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1978
• Where—New York City, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; J.D., Columbia University
• Currently—New York City, New York, USA
Aidan Donnelley Rowley doesn't apologize for her long name. It is, simply, her name: first, maiden and married. Period. Aidan has been a lawyer and is now a mother of three, a novelist and a blogger. She was born in New York City and resides there today—all in the same neighborhood: the Upper West Side.
Aidan received her BA from Yale and her law degree from Columbia (also on the Upper West Side). She practiced law for a large corporate firm but departed once she realized she wanted to write full-time.
In 2009, she started her blog, then called "Ivy League Insecurities," as a haven to write and to share "bits and pieces" of herself. The blog is now called "ADR," and Aiden continues to try out ideas surrounding identity, motherhood, marriage, family and loss—the big issues that make up our lives.
Aidan's first novel, Life After Yes, was published in 2010. Her second novel, The Ramblers, came out in 2016. Both novels are set in New York. (Adapted from the author's blog.)
Book Reviews
A trio of New Yorkers leading charmed lives must overcome everyday complications.... Propelled by the kinds of rote sitcom-style misunderstandings..., this tale is light on plot, but Rowley’s Manhattan provides a vivid and charming setting for her nuanced (if not always sympathetic) characters to evolve.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Rowley...captures the bright dialog, urban and romantic insecurities, and stylish lifestyle of...mid-30s Manhattanites who defy the jaded stereotypes and will have readers rooting for them as they stumble their way to happiness. Irresistible. —Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI
Library Journal
A week of soul-searching and lovemaking among Yale alumni in New York.... Enjoyable if at times overly earnest.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)