Thirtysomething Leigh Fortune never thought she’d make it this far. Emerging from the ashes of a traumatic childhood, she’s managed to plant her flag on Terra Normal. But under the surface she’s unsure—of herself, of her fiancée, of everything. A letter informing her of her estranged mother’s death tips her from uncertainty into emotional upheaval and sends her on a journey that will take her from the dunes of Cape Cod to Las Vegas and back.
Will she—with the help of her elderly grandmother, an HIV-positive social worker, and a few ghosts—finally be able to leave childhood hurt behind? Or will she upend the life she’s created and fall back into familiar patterns of self-destructiveness? To free herself from her past, Leigh will need to learn to accept her own faults as well as forgive those of others.
https://www.blackrosewriting.com/literary/longdivision
REVIEWS
“The three generations of women in this book are connected by shared trauma and also by Fraser’s insightful storytelling. The book moves elegantly between narrators and through time, and addresses the far-reaching consequences of alcoholism and childhood abuse with intensity, balanced by a gentle touch for the subtleties of family dynamics.”
–Tim Boomer, New York Times Modern Love column and podcast contributor
“Long Division is as much about the treacherous but essential landscape of love as it is about the narrative webs we often spin to survive and then must find a way to dismantle.”
–Tehila Lieberman, winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for short fiction and author of Venus in the Afternoon
“Long Division is a touching, subtly poignant, and unflinching take on the ties that bind mothers and daughters… and often unmake them.”
–Nicole Galland, author of On The Same Page
From Wellfleet Marketplace Booksellers
My brother, a psychologist who specialized in family therapy, used to talk about the unintentional legacy of family patterns, how the sins of the parents are not just visited on subsequent generations, they’re often repeated by them. I think Mike would have really appreciated this new novel by Sara Fraser for that reason as well as others. Sara is an immensely talented writer whose short stories I’ve enjoyed over the years. This is her debut novel and I like that so many publishers these days are introducing new writers with paperback originals, making it more affordable to sample an unknown voice. Partially set on the Cape, Long Divisioncenters on three generations of women. Leigh Fortune has just learned that her estranged mother, whom she hasn’t seen or heard from in years has died. She’s also dealing with an aging grandmother who cared for Leigh after her own mother abandoned her and is now a far from content resident of Walnut Acres Municipal Nursing Home. Leigh is also supposed to be getting married. To Mark, who she describes as a Good Man. “And I do love him. He’s good and stable and reliable. He could be better than that or worse. Or maybe he’s both. He’s my dream man, the perfect compliment, and he’s also the dark heavy blanket that’s going to smother me if I let him.” So Leigh is about to make a huge life commitment, something that has never worked out very well for her mother or her grandmother. Can it work for her? I loved this insightful, moving, brilliant novel, reminiscent of Meg Wolitzer’s novels.
–Stephen Russell, Wellfleet Marketplace Booksellers
From Kirkus
A troubled woman makes peace with her family in this well-written and introspective novel.
From IndieReader:
LONG DIVISION is a multi-generational tale of dysfunction and hope echoing from grandmother, to mother, to daughter….The storytelling is incredibly human and honest, exploring how a person can be blinded by their own intentions….[it] is a novel whose fluid narration and rich imagery carries a story that is deeply personal to its characters but universal in its themes.
From J.L. Cole Books
Three women, three generations, intertwined together by the choices they made.
Long Division by Sara B. Fraser was a delightful, character-driven read…. It’s a story about family, heartbreak and finding peace amongst life’s broken pieces. The ending is left a little bit open, which I thought fitting for this kind of novel. It’s like they are real people and their story is still being written, not just tied up neatly with a bow.
From New England Book Critic:
Long Division is a powerful story about three generations of women who share the same bloodline and their inability to deal with their past, has inadvertently affected one another.
From Authors Reading:
Long Division is narrated in beautifully told interweaving storylines, where the past and present come together in a nuanced, heartfelt drama about everyday people living everyday lives.
From Sublime Book Review:
An exceptionally well-written novel, giving the reader an insight into the lives of the characters with a style and grace that would be the envy of many writers.
From Onlinebookclub.org:
Long Division deals head-on with issues like abuse, alcoholism, and statutory rape. However, at its very core, this is a book about human understanding. It’s a book about recognizing that human beings, even those who are parents, are flawed individuals who don’t always make the right choices.