Count the Ways: A Novel

Amazon.com Review An Amazon Best Book of July 2021: Eleanor meets Cam at a craft fair in the 1970s; they fall in love and he moves into her New Hampshire farmhouse. Soon, they are parents to three young children. Eleanor throws herself into making the best childhood for her children—the kind of childhood she didn’t have—and also financially supporting the family. In one unforgettable scene, Eleanor labors over a bûche de Noël for Christmas dinner. Cam is about to leave the house to go cross country skiing, and Eleanor is so angry at his lack of effort that she throws the elaborate cake into the trash. Count the Ways is full of the tiny ways a marriage is built and broken. And while a series of significant events eventually tears this family apart, it’s the minutiae of everyday life that cracks the foundation of Eleanor and Cam’s marriage. A sweeping epic told over decades, we see this family grow and change, although Eleanor’s maternal sacrifices consistently loom large. I haven’t