Our Take

Claire Lombardo proves that her debut success with The Most Fun We Ever Had was no fluke—she's a masterful chronicler of family dynamics and female psychology. Her writing is both intimate and expansive, capturing the universal experience of midlife questioning while honoring the specificity of Julia's journey. What makes this novel exceptional is Lombardo's refusal to offer easy answers or judge her protagonist's choices. Instead, she presents a complex woman navigating the gap between expectation and reality with remarkable empathy and insight. Readers who connected with Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout will appreciate Lombardo's unflinching examination of ordinary life's extraordinary moments, while fans of The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister will recognize the same attention to the small details that define our days. Like My Education by Susan Choi, this novel explores how personal awakening can disrupt even the most stable foundations. Lombardo's prose is elegant without being precious, and her character development is so nuanced that Julia feels like someone you might know intimately. This is essential reading for anyone who has ever wondered about the roads not taken or questioned whether it's ever too late to start over.