Helen Knightly has spent a lifetime trying to win the love of a mother who had none to spare. And as this electrifying novel opens, she steps over a boundary she never dreamt she would even approach. But while her act is almost unconscious, it also seems like the fulfilment of a lifetime’s buried desire.

Over the next twenty-four hours, her life rushes in at her as she confronts the choices that have brought her to this crossroads.

‘Sebold writes brilliantly . . . The Almost Moon is a mature, salutary and timely novel’ Helen Dunmore, The Times

‘Exhilarating, unforgettable . . . This is a remarkable novel in which every word is vital, each nuance felt . . . Candid, gut-wrenching, at times horribly funny and often beautifully touching . . . The genius which guides The Almost Moon is its absolute, horrible, multiple truths; its staggering clarity’ Irish Times

‘As moving as it is unquestionably gripping’ Observer