“That would be like lying awake at night and staring at the ceiling that I had painted myself and thinking, oh, I made a mistake there.”Īnne Tyler’s Redhead by the Side of the Road is her 23rd bookįor many years Tyler didn’t give interviews, but she relented as she felt publishers were becoming increasingly worried about whether people would read at all. “No way,” she says, laughing into the phone. That’s a treasure chest of quality fiction for readers who have yet to discover her, though long-time fans can take solace in the fact that her character-driven books lend themselves well to multiple readings.īut who does Tyler herself turn to in times like these? Maybe she just sits at home going through her back catalogue. Her new book Redhead by the Side of the Road is her 23rd novel. Handily enough for this confined world we live in, she is also prolific. Tyler is best-known for being a master documenter of ordinary lives. The Baltimore-based author has many accolades to her name, among them the Pulitzer Prize for Breathing Lessons (1988), a Booker shortlisting for A Spool of Blue Thread (2015), the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Sunday Times Award for literary excellence. It is comfort reading of the best sort – emotionally intelligent, finely detailed prose that leaves you feeling richer by the end of it.

Reading a Tyler novel is like a welcome into a brand new family. What better author to read than Anne Tyler in these extraordinary times of social distancing and self-isolation.

Anne tyler redhead