The New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had (“wonderfully
immersive…deliciously absorbing”—NPR) returns with another brilliantly observed family drama in
which the enduring hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events
both past and present. Same As It Ever Was showcases the consummate style signature wit
and profound emotional intelligence that made The Most Fun We Ever Had one of the most beloved
novels of the past decade. Featuring a memorably messy family and the multifaceted marriage at
its heart Lombardo’s debut was dubbed “the literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne
Tyler” ( The Guardian ) and hailed as “ambitious and brilliantly written” ( Washington Post ).
In this remarkable follow-up—another elegant and tumultuous story in the tradition of Elizabeth
Strout Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng—Lombardo introduces us to an unforgettable cast of
characters this time by way of her singularly complicated protagonist. Julia Ames after a
youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence has found herself on the placid plateau of
mid-life. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged
class. Having nearly derailed herself several times making desperate bids for the kind of
connection that always felt inaccessible to her she finally feels at age fifty seven that
she has a firm handle on things. She’s unprepared though for what comes next: a surprise
announcement from her straight-arrow son an impending separation from her spikey teenaged
daughter and a seductive resurgence of the past all of which threaten to draw her back into
the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge. Same As It Ever Was traverses
the rocky terrain of real life —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence
intergenerational friendship and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all.
Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow change and sometimes
end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts
herself among the finest novelists of her generation.
