A Window Across the River [Paperback]

Isaac and Nora haven't seen each other in five years, yet when Nora phones Isaac late one night, he knows who it is before she's spoken a word. Isaac, a photographer, is relinquishing his artistic career, while Nora, a writer, is seeking to rededicate herself to hers.

Fueled by their rediscovered love, Nora is soon on fire with the best work she's ever done, until she realizes that the story she's writing has turned into a fictionalized portrait of Isaac, exposing his frailties and compromises and sure to be viewed by him as a betrayal. How do we remain faithful to our calling if it estranges us from the people we love? How do we remain in love after we have seen the very worst of our loved ones? These are some of the questions explored in a novel that critics are calling an absolute pleasure (The Seattle Times).

This is the story of Nora and Isaac, once lovers, estranged for five years, and now back in one another's lives. Isaac, a photographer, is dealing with the reality, at 40, that he will probably never be a star artist and is settling down in his comfortable job for a suburban New Jersey newspaper, mentoring students whose future looks brighter than his own. Nora, 9 years younger, has always been his great love, and after a five year hiatus, she's back, still struggling as a writer, still taking care of her aging aunt Billie, still unsure whether or not she can commit to Isaac. The problem is, Nora can't help but write about the people in her life, and although she is kind and sensitive and thoughtful and funny, in her writing she is brutal, and seems unable not to seek out the weakness in her subjects, thereby mortally damaging her relationships. Can this love affair survive the slings and arrows of art?

PRAISE FOR STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING
Nothing less than a triumph.
-The New York Times Book Review
Wonderful . . . this is what a novel is supposed to be. -Newsday

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