The Year of Fog
The New York Times bestselling literary mystery about memory, obsession, and one woman's search for a missing child.
"Profound, deeply moving, endlessly gripping; you will devour it in a weekend and turn it over to begin again.” ~Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less
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"I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. A missing child, a haunting neighborhood, a search for love…The Year of Fog has it all. Make a sandwich now: you won’t stop reading for hours." Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of TheJetsetters
"Wonderful...fascinating." The San Francisco Chronicle
"Mesmerizing and harrowing." London Daily Mail
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About the Book
Life changes in an instant. On a foggy San Francisco beach. In the seconds when Abby Mason—photographer, fiancée soon-to-be-stepmother—looks into her camera and commits her greatest error. Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, here is the riveting tale of a family torn apart, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, and of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love.
Six-year-old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a stranger’s van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Devastated by guilt, haunted by her fears about becoming a stepmother, Abby refuses to believe that Emma is dead. And so she searches for clues about what happened that morning—and cannot stop the flood of memories reaching from her own childhood to illuminate that irreversible moment on the beach.
Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose interest and fliers fade on telephone poles, Emma’s father finds solace in religion and scientific probability—but Abby can only wander the beaches and city streets, attempting to recover the past and the little girl she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side of another sea, on a journey that has led her to another man and into a strange subculture of wanderers and surfers, Abby will make the most astounding discovery of all—as the truth of Emma’s disappearance unravels with stunning force.
A profoundly original novel of family, loss, and hope—of the choices we make and the choices made for us—The Year of Fog, now in its 31st printing, is a classic literary mystery set in San Francisco, a tour de force about memory, forgetting, love, and forgiveness.
- A Kirkus Reviews Top Pick for Reading Groups
- A New York Times bestseller
- A Washington Post "A List" book
- Best Books of the Year, Library Journal & News of the World
- A San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book
- An official selection of Silicon Valley Reads
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Washington Post wrote:“A mesmerizing novel of loss and grief, hope and redemption, and the endurance of love.”
Telematin, France wrote:Gripping. Grade: A.
The Denver Post wrote:The book of the summer. If you read only one book, read The Year of Fog
London Daily Mail wrote:Compulsively readable…both believable and bittersweet
Seattle Times wrote:Mesmerising and harrowing… Richmond has established herself as the mistress of the kind of literary mystery that reads like a fine thriller but with added insight and wisdom.
South China Morning Post wrote:A harrowing, beautifully written story of a photographer and soon-to-be stepmom whose momentary lapse in attention results in the disappearance of her fiance’s little girl on a foggy beach in San Francisco. What happened to 6-year-old Emma? The answer, and its implications, will keep you on the edge of your beach chair.
Booklist wrote:An unusually imaginative novel of family, loss and hope, The Year of Fog tackles mysteries of time, memory and the human heart
Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Less wrote:Richmond gracefully explores the nature of memory and perception in key passages that never slow the suspense of the search…a page-turner with a philosophical bent
San Francisco Examiner wrote:In The Year of Fog, Richmond gives us both a mystery and a meditation on memory. Profound, deeply moving, endlessly gripping; you will devour it in a weekend and turn it over to begin again
People Magazine wrote:Involving, heartrending and immediately readable
Joshilyn Jackson on New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever wrote:Gripping
"Suspenseful, richly imagined, and ultimately hopeful, The Year of Fog is a keeper. Michelle Richmond is a talent to watch.”
The Year of Fog playlist
The Year of Fog Reading Group Guide
The Year of Fog Q&A
Foreign Editions
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