The Light of Evening — Edna O'Brien

In a luminous, truthful, and heartrending novel, Edna O'Brien returns to the Irish countryside to explore the complicated, incomparable bonds of mother-daughter love. An ailing Irishwoman anticipates the return of her long-estranged daughter, whom she has called to her hospital bedside for one final meeting. The daughter approaches this reunion with reluctance, for she has attempted to forge a life uninfluenced by the pull of home and the wishes of her mother. As the visit draws closer, each discovers in her own way that despite the strain of absence and disagreement, expectation and disappointment, the enduring connection between mother and daughter remains powerful and true, and they may have more in common than they once believed.