US Reviews for One Moment, One Morning

The Boston Globe

"Rayner's spot-on portrayal of the stages of grieving allows readers to experience the emotional roller coaster of loss right along with her three protagonists... Karen, Anna and Lou. But while One Moment, One Morning - already a bestseller in the United Kingdom, where it was released in 2010 - may find a natural audience with female readers, it exudes a quiet complexity, resisting categorization as chick lit... Rayner's writing, though heartbreaking at times, never feels histrionic or sappy. Though the novel spans only a week's time, sectioned day and time, Rayner's use of flashbacks and subtle yet revealing details offers a textured sense of each woman's personality and invites investment practically from page one, making for a gripping read. It's likely only a matter of time before a film adaptaptation is in the works. One Moment, One Morning is essentially a dissection of the moments, be they life-altering or fleeting, that both define individuals and bind them to others. Rayner not only does a superb job of exploring this theme, but does so through women who are so relatable and well-defined that it's a shame to part with them on the final page."

Marie Claire

US Marie Claire (December 2011) has picked One Moment, One Morning as this month's Must Read.

"In the mood for something delicious?' they say. 'Then look no further than Sarah Rayner's big-hearted, utterly addictive paean to women's friendship.  Set amid the funky seaside carnival charm of present-day Brighton, the novel (a runaway best seller in England) examines the lives of three very different women who are brought together unexpectedly when the husband of one suffers a fatal heart attack. But while Rayner faithfully chronicles losing a loved one, she is equally dedicated to illustrating the profound ways in which friends help each other survive. Think Steel Magnolia's for Brits: tender... and ultimately irresistable."

Publishers' Weekly

A man’s sudden death touches off seismic shifts in the lives of three women, wife-turned-widow Karen, neighbour Anna, and teacher—and closeted lesbian—Lou, in this affecting weeper about friendship and family. Rayner takes a random tragedy on a morning commuter train from Brighton to London and parses it over the hours of six days plucked from half a year, dissecting the women’s emotional unraveling and eventual rebirth as stronger mothers, lovers, friends. The aching loss heaped swiftly upon Karen and her two young children, Molly and Luke, is reason enough to cry, but their search for solace turns from maudlin and mundane to insightful and fresh thanks in part to the pleasing retrospective flashbacks of this family’s life. “It’s his failings that made him who he was,” Karen confesses in her plaintive eulogy. And while Karen rebuilds her fractured family, best friend Anna contemplates the end of an abusive relationship with a charming drunk, and Lou finally trusts her heart enough to come out to a family she vastly underestimates. Rayner sets up a tricky emotional minefield for these vulnerable women, but deftly guides them to a place of power and truth.

Booklist

"Rayner's writing is concise and contemporary, bringing her characters and their emotions to life in so realistic and believable a way as to avoid the cliched. Her portrayal of emotion is authentic, even to the point of being painful to read, but this story is as much about relationships, hope and second chances as it is about death and loss. Its most valuable lesson of all is that each of us only has one life to live."

Tatiana de Rosnay, New York Times bestselling author of Sarah’s Key and A Secret Kept

"Oh what a novel! It will make you laugh and cry, it will make you want to call your dear ones and tell them how much you love them, it will make you buy it for all your friends."

Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Commencement and Maine

"Rayner writes unflinchingly about the worst sort of tragedy life can bestow, yet she somehow manages to let the light shine through. The result is a powerful novel about love, loss, and friendship that is at once brave, funny, sad, and ultimately unforgettable."

Kirkus

"Affectionately drawn characters lift a morose topic into a companionable light, as Rayner never shies away from her character’s misery and ineptitude in dealing with the worst, offering a welcome dose of reality in the literature of female bonding."

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