Praise for THE FOREVER MARRIAGE:
“Funny, surprising and gratifyingly honest, this novel poses unsparing questions about love and betrayal and the reasons we make the choices we do.”
–MORE Magazine
“While in many ways a quiet story with a subtle arc, it is also an emotionally powerful page-turner — memorable and exquisitely written.”
“With lovely prose and fine pacing, Bauer offers a sensitive portrait of a flawed woman coming to terms with a lifetime of regrets.”
–Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Bauer deftly draws all the characters. Love or hate Carmen, readers won’t soon forget the hot-blooded woman, and fans of Elizabeth Berg will want to meet her.”
–Library Journal
“Written in a contemporary style that evokes the work of Anne Tyler, this is not only a well-nuanced story of youthful mistakes and adult consequences but also an unflinching look at one woman’s fight against breast cancer.”
–Booklist
“At times dispassionate and self-absorbed and at other times emotional and selfless, Carmen follows a path of self-discovery that is often painful, poignant and undeniably real. Bauer crafts an insightful story…it’s a journey well worth taking.”
“… readers receive from Bauer and “The Forever Marriage” a perfect read.”
–Minneapolis StarTribune
“The novel is infused with a sense of grace and redemption for characters Bauer makes us care about…”
–St. Paul Pioneer Press
“Ann Bauer’s indelible portrait of a marriage rocked by fate and infidelity unfolds with the taut power of a thriller. The Forever Marriage is an observant, insightful, and utterly fresh look at the conflict involved in trying to share one’s life with another.”
–Sabina Murray, author of The Caprices and Tales of the New World
“Bauer connects everyday life to the unexpected wars between body and psyche. Her heroine’s blithe and convincing allure, and Bauer’s natural wit and lyric storytelling, give this novel of hard-won transformations an unforgettable force.”
–Maria Flook, author of Invisible Eden, A Story of Love and Murder on Cape Cod and LUX
The critics on A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards:
“In resonant, clear-eyed prose, Ann Bauer’s A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards expertly maps the ferocity and anguish of a parent’s love for a child. . .by no means a fairy tale, Cupboards is a sharply drawn wonder.”
–Entertainment Weekly
“Many people grow up in this novel and not all of them arrive, panting but victorious, at the crest of the hill. A happy ending would be absurd here, and Bauer wisely stays clear of easy conclusions: valuable lessons learned, love triumphant, differences reconciled. Nonetheless, she steers this family through dreadfully difficult waters with a sense of the possibility of those things, and in the end those possibilities make A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards more than just an account of the end of innocence. It is also a story about how wisdom is acquired, one giant step at a time.”
–Washington Post
“This is a portrait of parenthood and womanhood filled with honesty and poignancy, thankfully devoid of any overwrought sentimentality. It is the story of a person trying to hold on to the myth of the happy American family, finding that sometimes more than love is necessary to make things right and that there is darkness and sorrow on some branches of every family tree.”
–bookreporter.com
“I wanted more of Rachel and her family, whom Bauer portrays with supple insight and affection. Jack and Edward are wonderfully complex people; Rachel, with her ferocious love for her brood, and her unflinching emotional honesty, is a true heroine. This isn’t a heartwarming, inspirational novel. Much better than that, it’s a beautifully rendered, true one.”
–Star Tribune
“Without easy or pat explanations, Bauer’s world is rich in the often wrong-headed but always well-meaning choices her characters, like real people, make daily. An impressive debut.”
–Kirkus
“Bauer’s nuanced debut chronicles a mother’s struggle with her child’s mysterious, undiagnosed illness and the once-passionate marriage that doesn’t survive the decades of extraordinary stress. . . .[her] prose often pierces with authentic, unsentimental power.”
–Publisher’s Weekly