ABOUT THE BOOK Ladder of Years FROM THE PUBLISHER Anne Tyler tells the story of a 40-year-old woman, the mother of three almost-grown children, who on a sudden impulse walks away from her marriage, hitches a ride into the unknown, and settles in a strange new town to invent a new life. What propels Delia Grinstead, the wife of a Baltimore physician, as she is spending another rainy vacation with husband, children, and assorted relatives? Is it old hurts and humiliations that surface this particular summer in the family-infested beach cottage? The feeling that she has become expendable?

The memory, perhaps, of that angular young man in the supermarket who asked her to pose as his girlfriend when he runs into his ex-wife? Or is it simply the lure of the local repairman's beautifully self-sufficient van, sailing off, unencumbered? Whatever. Delia takes off, wearing only her swimsuit and her husband's beach robe, and doesn't stop until she is suddenly captivated by a quiet little tree-lined town. There she halts the van, hops off, finds a stark room to rent, and settles in. So begins her new, impersonal life as Ms. Grinstead. But inevitably the world crowds in. New friends, new responsibilities, accumulate - from a stray cat who craves a home to a sad, deserted husband and his little boy who need her to fill a hole in their lives. FROM THE CRITICS Chicago Tribune Utterly compelling. . . wonderfully satisfying . . . virtually flawless. Publishers Weekly - Cahners Publishers_Weekly At 40, Delia Grinstead seems more likely to have an attack of anxiety, or of whimsy, than to become a runaway wife. Yet, in Tyler's beguiling novel, Delia's impulse to escape her disapproving physician husband and three surly children turns into an adventure that sweeps her from her staid Baltimore orbit into a new existence as Ms. Grinstead, spinster, in the Delaware community of Bay Borough. It's the unexamined life that's Delia's problem, and when she finally strips away layers of hurt, resentment, guilt and anger, she confronts her inner self and begins to deal with the chronic insecurity that has kept her childlike, flighty and dependent. Gradually, she becomes part of her new community, and has the courage to take a job caring for Noah Miller, an appealing 12-year-old whose mother has also run away from home and family. Over the course of a year, Delia discards her timorous personality and gains an understanding of the person she wants to be. One of the satisfactions of this novel is Tyler's evocation of typical family life. While in the past some of her characters have been too eccentric or fey, Delia and her family and friends all have both feet planted in the real world, even if their heads and hearts are sometimes elsewhere. Some readers may have difficulty accepting Delia's ability to absent herself from her children, but Tyler engages our sympathy and growing respect for a character who finally realizes that "the ladder of years" is a time trip to the future. Publishers Weekly This novel of a housewife's escape spent 17 weeks on PW's bestseller list. Library Journal In Tyler's 13th novel, Celia Grinstead inexplicably walks out on her family. Library Journal In Tyler's 13th novel, Celia Grinstead inexplicably walks out on her family. Read all 7 "From The Critics" >

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