Saints for All Occasions

A novel

By: J. Courtney Sullivan

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2017

"This year’s best book about family." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

A sweeping, unforgettable novel from The New York Times best-selling author of Maine, about the hope, sacrifice, and love between two sisters and the secret that drives them apart.

Nora and Theresa Flynn are twenty-one and seventeen when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan—a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand. Fifty years later, Nora is the matriarch of a big Catholic family with four grown children: John, a successful, if opportunistic, political consultant; Bridget, quietly preparing to have a baby with her girlfriend; Brian, at loose ends after a failed baseball career; and Patrick, Nora's favorite, the beautiful boy who gives her no end of heartache. Estranged from her sister, Theresa is a cloistered nun, living in an abbey in rural Vermont. Until, after decades of silence, a sudden death forces Nora and Theresa to confront the choices they made so long ago. A graceful, supremely moving novel from one of our most beloved writers, Saints for All Occasions explores the fascinating, funny, and sometimes achingly sad ways a secret at the heart of one family both breaks them and binds them together.

Critic reviews

"Reminiscent of both Colm Toibin's Brooklyn and Matthew Thomas's We Are Not Ourselves… All of Sullivan's characters leap off the page. You don't read this book; you breathe it." –Janet Maslin, "Times Critics' Top Books of 2017," The New York Times

"Fabulous and smart." —Emma Straub, The New York Times Book Review

“Moving… Eloquently testifies to the durability of the fabric of family… Touched with… warmth, kindness and gentle wisdom.” —Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“A breathtaking literary ode to life, change, and the unbreakable bonds of family.” —Redbook

“Carefully plotted... Sullivan succeeds in creating a believably complicated, clannish Irish-American family… Engrossing.” —Suzanne Berne, The New York Times

“An engrossing family drama… Sullivan’s profound understanding of her characters and the Irish-Catholic culture that defines them illuminates every scene.” —Kim Hubbard, People Magazine

“This year’s best book about family… Elegant… Captivating… Deft and insightful… A quiet masterpiece…impressive. Saints for All Occasions is so unassuming that its artistry looks practically invisible. In a simple style that never commits a flutter of extravagance, Sullivan draws us into the lives of the Raffertys, and in the rare miracle of fiction makes us care about them like they were our own family.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“A blockbuster…An engrossing family drama with feisty humor and transformative tough love.”
—Elle

“I hope to read another novel as strong and wise and beautiful and heartbreaking as J. Courtney Sullivan’s Saints for All Occasions this year, but I'm not sure I will.”
—Richard Russo

Entertaining book

Loved the characters. Great narration. Some questions were left about the motives of the characters at the end of the story, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Predictable ending.

A family full of secrets!

What a riveting book. All the characters are well-developed, the Boston/Dorchester/Irish immigrant scene well-drawn. I had read very little about that social and religious dynamic and it gave me an understanding of the area and the 50s to 00's era. In some ways, the ending was just the beginning. The narrator is excellent, adept at Irish and American accents as well as children's voices. I highly recommend it!

Nice book, overdramatic reading

Any additional comments?

With the tight plotting of this book, the last thing needed is the narrator's overly dramatic reading. The story speaks for itself and doesn't need emotion ladled on thickly. It's a tribute to the writing that I was able to finish listening to it despite my dislike of the narration.

The narration ruined it

The narration is cloying. A saccharine style is used that is more suitable for reading to preschoolers. However, I am an adult as are the characters in this book.

If you are Irish will bring back do many memories !!!

If you have Irish roots must read!!
Narrator is so good with Irish accents. I could hear my grandmother and aunts.
The description of Irish wakes was so right on. Great book!