Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
One of Real Simple’s Best Books of the Year
“I loved this book. . . . Funny, heartbreaking and clever with a mystery at its heart.” —Jojo Moyes
“With an eye as keen for human idiosyncrasies as Miranda July’s, and a sense of humor as bright and surprising as Maria Semple’s, this is a novel of pure velocity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, the Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams.
The Guidebook’s missives have remained a constant in Abi’s life—a befuddling yet oddly comforting voice through her family’s grief over her brother’s disappearance, a move across continents, the devastating dissolution of her marriage, and the new beginning as a single mother and café owner in Sydney.
Now, two decades after receiving those first pages, Abi is invited to an all-expenses paid weekend retreat to learn “the truth” about the Guidebook. It’s an opportunity too intriguing to refuse. If Everything is Connected, then surely the twin mysteries of the Guidebook and a missing brother must be linked?
What follows is completely the opposite of what Abi expected––but it will lead her on a journey of discovery that will change her life––and enchant readers. Gravity Is the Thing is a smart, unusual, wickedly funny novel about the search for happiness that will break your heart into a million pieces and put it back together, bigger and better than before.
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Jaclyn Moriarty. (2019). Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Jaclyn Moriarty. 2019. Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel. HarperCollins.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Jaclyn Moriarty, Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2019.
MLA Citation (style guide)Jaclyn Moriarty. Gravity Is the Thing: A Novel. HarperCollins, 2019.
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Jaclyn Moriarty is the bestselling author of novels for young adults including Feeling Sorry for Celia, The Year of Secret Assignments, and the Colours of Madeleine trilogy. She has been the recipient of the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the Queensland Literary Award, and the Aurealis Award for Fantasy. Jaclyn grew up in Sydney, lived in England, the United States, and Canada, and now lives in Sydney again. She is very fond of chocolate, blueberries, ice-skating and sleep.
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One of Real Simple’s Best Books of the Year
“I loved this book. . . . Funny, heartbreaking and clever with a mystery at its heart.” —Jojo Moyes
“With an eye as keen for human idiosyncrasies as Miranda July’s, and a sense of humor as bright and surprising as Maria Semple’s, this is a novel of pure velocity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, the Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams.
The Guidebook’s missives have remained a constant in Abi’s life—a befuddling yet oddly comforting voice through her family’s grief over her brother’s disappearance, a move across continents, the devastating dissolution of her marriage, and the new beginning as a single mother and café owner in Sydney.
Now, two decades after receiving those first pages, Abi is invited to an all-expenses paid weekend retreat to learn “the truth” about the Guidebook. It’s an opportunity too intriguing to refuse. If Everything is Connected, then surely the twin mysteries of the Guidebook and a missing brother must be linked?
What follows is completely the opposite of what Abi expected––but it will lead her on a journey of discovery that will change her life––and enchant readers. Gravity Is the Thing is a smart, unusual, wickedly funny novel about the search for happiness that will break your heart into a million pieces and put it back together, bigger and better than before.
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"I loved this book. . . . Funny, heartbreaking and clever with a mystery at its heart." — Jojo Moyes
"A quirky novel with a lot of heart." — Real Simple, "Five Books That Won't Disappoint"
"[A] hilarious, incandescent novel. . . . Moriarty's originality and humor flow on every page of this wise take on loss and healing." — Minneapolis Star Tribune
"This intelligent, quirky epic is multidimensional in its treatment of existential life crises. . . . [a]multifaceted, masterful new work. . . . The book is riveting, and it resolves with a delightful series of twists. By the end, it is likely to have readers dabbing their eyes and smiling, surprised at how it all came together and convinced of Moriarty's genius." — Washington Independent Review of Books
"A powerful meditation on loss, grief, self-help and life. . . . Gravity Is the Thing sneaks up on readers, plucking their heartstrings while they're distracted, chuckling over Moriarty's intimate observations of the everyday peculiarities of life." — The Ridgefield Press
"Moriarty soars in this raw, dryly funny adult debut. . . . At its heart, Moriarty's complex and nimble plot serves as a vehicle for a deeper story. . . . Redemptive and hopeful, Gravity Is the Thing announces the arrival of a fresh, funny and perceptive voice in adult fiction." — Shelf Awareness
“Jaclyn Moriarty brings her unfettered imagination and a buoyant sense of humor to Gravity Is the Thing. . . . As Abi accepts an invitation to re-examine her life, readers may laugh, cry and even reflect on their own paths of discovery.” — BookPage (starred review)
“Quirky and beguiling, this witty quest for the truth will delight anyone mending their own broken life.” — Kirkus Reviews
“An utterly unique story of one woman's journey of self-discovery. . . . Moriarty's characters are delightfully fun and quirky. . . . Though this book may beg comparison to the suspenseful work of her sisters Liane and Nicole, this Moriarty's graceful discourse on joy is more likely to please readers of Marian Keyes and Maria Semple.” — Booklist
“Has the fresh, crinkling lilt of a storybook. . . .This book is a joy and rush of fresh water for the soul.” — BookTrib
“A thoughtful, beautifully written, truly original, and often hilarious meditation on loss, hope, the self-help industry, and the difficulties of navigating life on earth.” — Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
“GRAVITY IS THE THING is one of the most magical, different, interesting, likable, lovable, beautiful, sad, lovely, immensely uplifting books I have ever read. I read it in an agony of loving it but also being so humbled by the fact that if I lived to be 7,022 years old I would never be able to write a book as good as this. You will adore it—it's an instant classic.” — Marian Keyes
“Here, Jaclyn Moriarty has given readers a tender and exhilarating tale of what becomes possible when you dare to believe in the impossible. GRAVITY IS THE THING brims with mystery and enchantment on every page. This book will leave readers breathless and aching for more.” — Meghan MacLean Weir, author of The Book of Essie
“I am in love with this hilarious and tender story about characters who enchanted and surprised me up to the last page. GRAVITY IS THE THING will lift you up and...
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Starred review from May 13, 2019
This tender and frank adult debut by YA novelist Moriarty (The Year of Secret Assignments) follows one woman’s search for happiness in a world as brimming with promises of healing as it is overflowing with letdowns. On her 16th birthday, Abi Sorenson’s beloved brother went missing. On the very same day, she received the first chapter of a mysterious self-help book titled The Guidebook in the mail, and received chapters intermittently through the years—the chapters cover everything from the death of metaphysics (in a single paragraph) to winking criticism of Keats to more traditional self-help metaphors. Now 36 with a young son, and 20 years into the lessons of The Guidebook—and still reeling from the unresolved circumstances of her brother’s disappearance, as well as grieving her ruined marriage—Abi is invited to a remote island to learn the truth about why these messages came to her. The course ultimately leads her back to her hometown and an opportunity to further explore the mysteries surrounding The Guidebook with others whose life it has haunted—which, she hopes, might somehow help her find her brother. With an eye as keen for human idiosyncrasies as Miranda July’s, and a sense of humor as bright and surprising as Maria Semple’s, this is a novel of pure velocity; it sucks the reader into Abi’s problems and her joys in equal, brilliant measure. A complex dissection of the self-help industry, as well as a complete and moving portrait of a difficult, delightful woman, Moriarty proves her adult novels can live up to her YA work’s reputation.
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May 15, 2019
At 15, Abigail Sorensen lost her brother, Robert, and someone started mailing her chapters of a curious book called The Guidebook. But what is it guiding her toward? Twenty years later, now a single mother in Sydney, she is about to find out. Abigail, along with 25 other recipients of The Guidebook, has been invited on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Taylor Island, off the southeast coast of Australia. Their host, Wilbur, son of The Guidebook's authors, promises to tell them (well, most of them) the truth. But the truth behind The Guidebook is more complex than any of them expected, and although Abigail leaves the resort disappointed, she soon finds that the path has only just begun. At times, Moriarty (The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars, 2018, etc.) tells Abigail's story through short, impressionistic snippets, entwining first- and second-person perspectives that pull the reader into her life, as if we, too, were reading a new version of The Guidebook. Abigail's view of the world is filtered through her wry sense of humor, giving Moriarty's prose (well-honed through years as an award-winning YA writer) a style reminiscent of a Wes Anderson film, so even the most tragic events still carry a tinge of the absurd. Indeed, in Moriarty's hands, the self-help genre gets a few jabs--when Abigail reads The Celestine Prophesy, for example, she looks for messages the next day only to have her 4-year-old son bring her lots of Cheerios and a co-worker remark that her dress doesn't complement her skin tone. And The Guidebook itself is riddled with ridiculous observations and calls for silly experiments. Yet Abigail does receive messages, or at least experiences many more serendipitous events than your average person. But will the planets align to bring her love or danger? And how might The Guidebook help her solve the mystery of her brother's disappearance? Quirky and beguiling, this witty quest for the truth will delight anyone mending their own broken life.COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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June 1, 2019
Moriarty makes her adult-fiction debut with an utterly unique story of one woman's journey of self-discovery. Abi Sorenson experienced two major events when she was 15: the appearance of the first chapter of The Guidebook, an anonymous manual that purports to teach her how to live her best life, and the disappearance of her brother, Robert. Certain these two events are linked, and having continued to receive random chapters for the next 20 years, she is now thrilled to be invited to a retreat where the truth behind The Guidebook will be revealed. But the revelation turns out to be only the beginning of Abi's path to answers, and deepening connections with others from the retreat make her realize she may just be able to fly for herself. Moriarty's characters are delightfully fun and quirky, with Wilbur's attempt to carry out his parents' dream a heartening subplot. Though this book may beg comparison to the suspenseful work of her sisters Liane and Nicole, this Moriarty's graceful discourse on joy is more likely to please readers of Marian Keyes and Maria Semple.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
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One of Real Simple’s Best Books of the Year
“I loved this book. . . . Funny, heartbreaking and clever with a mystery at its heart.” —Jojo Moyes
“With an eye as keen for human idiosyncrasies as Miranda July’s, and a sense of humor as bright and surprising as Maria Semple’s, this is a novel of pure velocity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, the Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams.
The Guidebook’s missives have remained a constant in Abi’s life—a befuddling yet oddly comforting voice through her family’s grief over her brother’s...
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