An advice columnist and mother searches for vanished husband in this dramatic novel by the New York Timesβbestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean.
An advice columnist for a Wisconsin newspaper, Julieanne Gillis dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was amiss in her own home. Devoted to being a good mother and keeping her twenty-year marriage fresh and exciting, she is shocked by her husbandβs surprise announcement that he needs a βsabbaticalβ from their life togetherβand devastated when he disappears, leaving Julie with no funds to raise two teenagers and a small daughter alone. But it is the discovery Julieanne suffers from a serious illness that truly crumbles her familyβs foundationβsetting her children on a dangerous, quixotic journey to locate their missing father before itβs too late.
Praise for The Breakdown Lane
βRousing melodrama; fluid, often funny, dialogue; and the convincing portrayal of children involved in the collapse of a marriage add up to another page-turner from Mitchard.β βPublishers Weekly
βAn astute observer of family dynamics, Mitchard renders her characters flawlessly, endowing them with a humanity that is both accessibly grounded and astonishingly deep.β βBooklist
βA compelling mix of suspense, humor, and abiding humanity.β βBoston Globe
βA novel you will read once, then again and again.β βTulsa World