This Close to Okay

by Leesa Cross-Smith Narrated by Kamali Minter, Zeno Robinson

Overview

A powerful, vibrant novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers, from the award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller."¿

On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing at the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett.*

Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. What she doesn't realize is that Emmett isn't the only one who needs healing-and they both are harboring secrets.

Alternating between Tallie and Emmett's perspectives as they inch closer to the truth of what brought Emmett to the bridge's edge-as well as the hard truths Tallie has been grappling with since her marriage ended-This Close to Okay*is an uplifting, cathartic story about chance encounters, hope found in unlikely moments, and the subtle magic of human connection.

Book of the Month December Pick
Good Housekeeping*Book Club February Pick
Marie Claire Book*Club March Pick
Most Anticipated by*Elle,*Today*(according to Goodreads),*The Millions,*She Reads, and*Real Simple
Recommended by Refinery29, Shondaland, Oprah Daily,*Washington Post,*Glamour,*Cosmopolitan,*Electric Literature,*Bookriot,*Parade,*Harper's Bazaar, and more

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2021 - AudioFile

Kamali Minter and Zeno Robinson narrate a quietly powerful story about grief, loss, and second chances. When Tallie sees a man standing on the side of a bridge in the rain, she pulls her car over to speak with him. Emmett has followed a difficult path to that bridge, but he agrees to go for coffee with Tallie instead of seeing his path to its end. Minter gives Tallie a generally buoyant and cheerful delivery despite the difficulties she has faced—but doesn’t shy away from her justifiable anger or sadness. Robinson’s portrayal of Emmett is complex and evolving, shifting from wary and alert to open and honest and to raw and grief-stricken as his story unfolds. Both Minter and Robinson succeed at delivering affecting performances. K.M.P. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

"The reader cannot help but root for [Tallie and Emmett] to find themselves and their happiness."—SheReads

"An insightful look at grief, pain, and healing."—BookBub

“Inventive. Authentic. Honest.”—Craft Literary

“I’ve laughed with Tallie and Emmett. I’ve cried with them too. We’ve listened to music, watched movies, had meals together. Not to mention all the honest conversations about love, life, grief and death. Now that I finished reading this extraordinary and oh so heartwarming story, I’m not sure how to move on. I miss them both deeply.”
 —Carolina Setterwall, author of Let’s Hope for the Best

"I so admire these stirring, sexy, haunting stories about the darkest corners of women's inner lives. A treat for the soul and the senses, and funny too. Leesa Cross-Smith is a wonderful storyteller."—Alexia Arthurs, award-winning author of How to Love a Jamaican (on So We Can Glow)

"So We Can Glow is precise and yearning in all the right ways. Cross-Smith understands sex and lust and love and all the ways they can get crossed up. Inventive in form, drifting from poetry to prose to script to smartphone text to receipt, Cross-Smith explores our affections, how they flourish or, more often, unravel, and her writing delivers this wisdom with blunt honesty and sex appeal to spare. It brings into existence secrets we didn't even know we had."—JM Holmes, award-winning author of How Are You Going to Save Yourself (on So We Can Glow)

"The magic of So We Can Glow is that no matter who you are, no matter your circumstances, no matter your gender identity, when reading this book you become the girls and women in these pages. You hope their hopes, dream their dreams, fantasize and love alongside them. Leesa Cross-Smith is some sort of sorceress."—Rion Amilcar Scott, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize-winning author of Insurrections and The World Doesn't Require You (on So We Can Glow)

"These stories, brief but dense with emotion, will make you feel like you're falling in love—again and again and again. They drop the reader into moments that feel soaked with longing, like strawberries in champagne. Through Cross-Smith's characters, we experience the messiness, the ache, but mostly the glory of female desire."—Amy Bonnaffons, author of The Regrets and The Wrong Heaven (on So We Can Glow)

"An uplifting story of how one encounter can change our lives in the way we don't expect."—Hong Kong Tatler

"This Close to Okay will have you enthralled in the story of Emmett and Tallie—with each character revealing the truths behind that monumental weekend from their own perspectives."—RUSSH

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177200408
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	02/02/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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