In a small town in Indiana, on the cusp of the new millennium, local reporter Alice Becotte wants what should be simple: a baby to fill her heart and complete her family. But Alice’s husband Rolly, a talented sculptor, harbors ambitions that draw him away from a steady teaching gig at a “backwater” college and unravel the couple’s moorings. PRINCIPLES OF NAVIGATION explores Alice and Rolly’s journey through loss, infidelity and heartbreak. When each partner is tested and found wanting, they are forced to find a way to move on, without map or compass, guided only by fragile and fleeting glimpses of grace.
“… a tender, thoughtful story of a couple whose once happy marriage dissolves amidst the stress of infertility and infidelity—and unmet expectations… quietly compelling. It is by no means a heart-pounding page-turner, but it is a page-turner nonetheless, a subtle story that gnaws and needles long after the cover is closed.”
— Chicago Book Review
“[A]n absorbing, poignant novel that artfully distills the many ways in which love can fail us — yet also take us by surprise when we need it most.”
— Katherine Shonk, author of Happy Now?
and The Red Passport
“Sloan pushes back against stereotypes of gender and familial life, making a claim to a new and urgent sense of the domestic.”
—Necessary Fiction
“… moving and vivid…. unforgettable.”
— Sharon Darrow,
author of The Painters of Lexieville and Trash
“[A]n absorbing, poignant novel that artfully distills the many ways in which love can fail us — yet also take us by surprise when we need it most.”
— Katherine Shonk, author of Happy Now?
and The Red Passport
“ … an annunciation, a miracle, … this novel of generation, of stasis, and of transformation.”
— Newcity
“Sloan’s characters are endearingly complicated and gloriously flawed, and the plot trajectory appealing to all of us negotiating the often-intricate road of long-term living with another through thick and thin where change seems the only perpetual constant.”
— Literary Fiction Book Review
“. . . I wanted to turn the page—no, I needed to turn the page. The payoff at the end made me glad that I did.”
— The Collagist
Available at:
Bookshop.org
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iTunes