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A Year and a Day
Fifteen-year-old Alice dreams of her first kiss, has sleepovers, auditions for Our Town, and tries to pass high school biology. It's 1975, and at first look, her life would seem to be normal and unexceptional. But in the world that Leslie Pietrzyk paints, every moment she chronicles is revealed through the kaleidoscope of loss, stained by the fact that Alice's mother, without warning, note, or apology, deliberately parks her car on the railroad tracks, in the path of an oncoming train.
In the emotional year that follows, Alice and her older brother find themselves in the care of their great aunt, forced to cope and move forward. Lonely and confused, Alice absorbs herself in her mother Annette's familiar rituals, trying to recapture their connection -- only to be stunned by the sound of her mother's voice speaking to her, engaging Alice in "conversations" and offering some insight into the life that she had led, beyond her role as Alice's mother.
In the emotional year that follows, Alice and her older brother find themselves in the care of their great aunt, forced to cope and move forward. Lonely and confused, Alice absorbs herself in her mother Annette's familiar rituals, trying to recapture their connection -- only to be stunned by the sound of her mother's voice speaking to her, engaging Alice in "conversations" and offering some insight into the life that she had led, beyond her role as Alice's mother.
368 pages, Paperback
First published February 17, 2004
7 people are currently reading
339 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Pietrzyk
13 books87 followersI am the author of Silver Girl, Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day (novels) and, most recently, Admit This to No One (short stories about official DC). My collection of linked stories about the death of my first husband, This Angel on My Chest, won the 2015 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Short fiction & essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Southern Review, Gettysburg Review, Hudson Review, The Sun, Shenandoah, Arts & Letters, Washingtonian, The Collagist, and Cincinnati Review. Oh, and one of my stories was awarded a 2020 Pushcart Prize--!!! I'm a member of the core fiction faculty at the Converse low-residency MFA program.
If I'm not writing, what I love most to do is cook...which is probably apparent from my books and stories, which are filled with food. Fun facts: Once I won the blue ribbon for chocolate chip cookies at the Virginia State Fair. Check out my website for a recipe for the best Thanksgiving stuffing in the world!
A guide for book clubs is posted on my website. Also...recipes!
If I'm not writing, what I love most to do is cook...which is probably apparent from my books and stories, which are filled with food. Fun facts: Once I won the blue ribbon for chocolate chip cookies at the Virginia State Fair. Check out my website for a recipe for the best Thanksgiving stuffing in the world!
A guide for book clubs is posted on my website. Also...recipes!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
July 9, 2017
This is an excellent novel. The type of story that reaches in you and gets to your heart. Tragic, sad, hopeful and beautiful all in one. This book makes you think about your existence, your truth and makes you question if you really need to know everything about your parents. Their life before you, has shaped them to be who they are today; however, they do not reveal all to you. Is it that important? They had you and now they are part of you. Isn't that enough? Very interesting insight. I enjoyed the main character: Lucy. She has strength and courage which I don't think I had at age 15. She is a lovely girl with a sensitive soul who really is grieving the lost of her mom and trying to understand why she committed suicide. Why did she not love her enough to keep on living. I love her inquisitive outlook. I would be very interested to know what she has become at age 40.
June 29, 2014
For anyone who has lost a beloved parent, this book will ring true. For me, that first year was tough and I was relieved when it was finished. It seemed to be a milestone and an accomplishment that I could make it through that first year without dying myself.
This is a beautiful, poignant novel about a teen-age girl whose mother's suicide begins a year of searching, pain, self-discovery, and, eventually, forgiveness and love. It is beautifully written with many passages I read over and over.
I have read one other book by this author - “Pears on a Willow Tree” and never forgot it. I had a hard time finding this one and finally downloaded it on my Kindle. I wish she was more prolific; I would read anything she writes.
There is one passage in this book that I love; one that reminds me of my mother because she loved storms – storms of any kind – rain, snow, sleet, whatever. She thought they were beautiful in their
power. I am copying it here:
"I got out of bed, hurried across the freezing floor and saw the world encased in a brilliant, glittering layer of ice; all the trees, the leftover brown leaves blown up against the fence; the fence, each individual blade of dried grass, the patio, the picnic table, each saggy branch and twig of the apple tree, the empty bird nest, the leftover stalks jutting up out of the garden,the tomato cages, the tangle of dead bean and morning glory vines twisting up the fence, Aunt Aggy's rosebushes, the clothesline poles. Everything outside shimmered and glimmered and glowed and sparkled; bright sun reflected off every surface, scattering bits of light.
"Blades of grass were individually wrapped in ice – like glass, like sugar coating – each separate from the rest, as if this was the way you were really supposed to see a lawn; blades of grass, each unique, each gleaming and wonderful and special. I had seen these trees out my window a million times, but never as splendid as this. A quick wind set the scene swaying and sparkling, like the shift of a kaleidoscope. I was afraid to step away from the window, afraid this beautiful world would disappear (as indeed it would – sunlight; warmer weather; people walking across the grass, footsteps crunching the icy blades, arms knocking branches). But right now, it is all here in front of me.
"Was an ice storm a miracle” Or was it just an ice storm, just weather, just what happened when raindrops fell into colder air, turning into sleet? Was this the world as it truly was?...."
This is a beautiful, poignant novel about a teen-age girl whose mother's suicide begins a year of searching, pain, self-discovery, and, eventually, forgiveness and love. It is beautifully written with many passages I read over and over.
I have read one other book by this author - “Pears on a Willow Tree” and never forgot it. I had a hard time finding this one and finally downloaded it on my Kindle. I wish she was more prolific; I would read anything she writes.
There is one passage in this book that I love; one that reminds me of my mother because she loved storms – storms of any kind – rain, snow, sleet, whatever. She thought they were beautiful in their
power. I am copying it here:
"I got out of bed, hurried across the freezing floor and saw the world encased in a brilliant, glittering layer of ice; all the trees, the leftover brown leaves blown up against the fence; the fence, each individual blade of dried grass, the patio, the picnic table, each saggy branch and twig of the apple tree, the empty bird nest, the leftover stalks jutting up out of the garden,the tomato cages, the tangle of dead bean and morning glory vines twisting up the fence, Aunt Aggy's rosebushes, the clothesline poles. Everything outside shimmered and glimmered and glowed and sparkled; bright sun reflected off every surface, scattering bits of light.
"Blades of grass were individually wrapped in ice – like glass, like sugar coating – each separate from the rest, as if this was the way you were really supposed to see a lawn; blades of grass, each unique, each gleaming and wonderful and special. I had seen these trees out my window a million times, but never as splendid as this. A quick wind set the scene swaying and sparkling, like the shift of a kaleidoscope. I was afraid to step away from the window, afraid this beautiful world would disappear (as indeed it would – sunlight; warmer weather; people walking across the grass, footsteps crunching the icy blades, arms knocking branches). But right now, it is all here in front of me.
"Was an ice storm a miracle” Or was it just an ice storm, just weather, just what happened when raindrops fell into colder air, turning into sleet? Was this the world as it truly was?...."
September 5, 2010
This is a wonderful story of a 15 year old girl who loses her mother, and spends a year questioning why, all the while hearing her mother's voice speaking to her, coaching her, teaching her, and telling her things that she did not know when her mother was alive.
Alice Martin is a typical teenager...hanging out with friends, having crushes on boys, and cherishes the times that she spends with her mom. Her mother, however, occasionally falls into deep depressions, and it was during one of these spells, that she kills herself. Alice, her 17 year old brother Will, and her Aunt Aggy struggle to find the answers why Annette Martin decided to do what she did.
Alice knows that nothing will ever be the same again, and wrestles with the fact that her mom is gone forever, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. When she begins hearing her dead mother's voice in her thoughts, she is not even afraid. Her mother's voice stays with her for a year and a day, answering many of Alice's questions.
This is moving coming-of-age story with a beautiful ending.
Alice Martin is a typical teenager...hanging out with friends, having crushes on boys, and cherishes the times that she spends with her mom. Her mother, however, occasionally falls into deep depressions, and it was during one of these spells, that she kills herself. Alice, her 17 year old brother Will, and her Aunt Aggy struggle to find the answers why Annette Martin decided to do what she did.
Alice knows that nothing will ever be the same again, and wrestles with the fact that her mom is gone forever, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. When she begins hearing her dead mother's voice in her thoughts, she is not even afraid. Her mother's voice stays with her for a year and a day, answering many of Alice's questions.
This is moving coming-of-age story with a beautiful ending.
June 22, 2012
The novel centers on Alice in the year following her mother's suicide, through her relationships with her remaining family and new friends. I found using that log line to explain the book doesn't do justice to the story's depth or the characters' development as people. The book touches on so much more than just a grieving teenager, which can be a lot to handle by itself. There are issues concerning the validity of existence, the strength of family, a little Ouija board action, and ultimately remembering people as they truly were, not the fantasized version we tend to tack onto deceased family members. Pietrzyk combines the heartache of loss with the quirkiness of family to give a realistic picture of moving on and growing up. Her prose is honest and clear, giving a wonderful representation to Alice and her small, Iowa town. All in all, A Year and a Day is a great example of a novel that is more than just the sum of its parts. It reaches down to stir and complicates issues that may seem simple, like any good novel should.
July 2, 2018
This is one of those books I know I'll come back to multiple times in my life. It's a special one!
July 29, 2025
Tiene un final muy emotivo, aunque ocasionalmente me parecía que era redundante con algunas emociones, o tal vez muy descriptivo, pero en general me gustó.
February 3, 2009
I really enjoyed this book a lot. It's about a girl whose mother dies suddenly, and she's told that it takes a year to get over the death and have life feel more normal.
I was just a little bit older than the main character, Alice, in 1975, and even though I grew up in a vastly different area, I could relate to so much of what she was going through in life, besides the death of her mother.
I'd highly recommend this book.
I was just a little bit older than the main character, Alice, in 1975, and even though I grew up in a vastly different area, I could relate to so much of what she was going through in life, besides the death of her mother.
I'd highly recommend this book.
May 3, 2015
Thought provoking character development. Found myself skimming at times, but always drawn back into the story. Offensive language, and some sexual themes throughout, but not in a celebratory way--this girl is lost and confused and trying to understand life. Nothing I'd read again.
January 3, 2019
Absolutely beautiful, poignant and heart wrenching. I have read this book 5 times.
April 12, 2023
A quick and quiet read. I laughed, I cried. There were times I couldn’t bear to know what was going to happen next, covering the words with my hands. The world of this book is strangely comforting, though devastating. Like real life, it keeps coming at you, things you don’t want to know, people saying the wrong things.
The characters are flawed and fully-formed. Alice draws you in with dreamy descriptions, then lunges at you with more heartbreak. But in the end you know it’s going to be ok. Or at least keep going.
The characters are flawed and fully-formed. Alice draws you in with dreamy descriptions, then lunges at you with more heartbreak. But in the end you know it’s going to be ok. Or at least keep going.
December 20, 2017
Love some of the details included, which brought back memories of my childhood/adolescence (such as 'ants-on-a-log' snack (celery 'logs' filled with peanut butter and sprinkled with raisin 'ants'), and sibling (sister-brother) interactions.
March 7, 2025
.::Borrow From A Friend/Library::.
Coming of age while grieving is unique (to me) and I enjoyed the first half of the book. If this is based on a trust story, I mean no disrespect. I just don't enjoy COA.
Coming of age while grieving is unique (to me) and I enjoyed the first half of the book. If this is based on a trust story, I mean no disrespect. I just don't enjoy COA.
January 18, 2020
I loved this book. The story of teenagers growing up with their aunt after their mother commits suicide. Coming of age tale.
May 9, 2020
This is one of my favorite books. Before I found Goodreads, I would go into the book store and just randomly select my next read. That is how I found this book in high school. For some reason I had been thinking about it recently and decided to read it again, to see if it was still as good as I remembered. It was. This is one of those books that you almost need to read slowly, because every sentence makes you consider the moment. As the title suggests, this book takes place throughout the course of a year, and Pietrzyk does such a good job of describing the seasons, I almost felt like I was there experiencing them. I don't know, it's just something so subtle about this book. It's just people living their lives, but for some reason, that's just so good to read.
July 14, 2021
i liked this but it was a little bit boring at first
January 28, 2025
Great ruminations on grief and life, but lacks a plot to move the story forward. Really had to trudge through this one. The last 50 pages were quite charming, though.
January 21, 2026
superb character development
October 9, 2008
A woman I didn't really know, but sat with for three weeks during Cole's 7th grade baseball season gave me this book. She read all during the games--it was so interesting. I loved this book. Here's a summary:
Fifteen-year-old Alice dreams of her first kiss, has sleepovers, auditions for Our Town, and tries to pass high school biology. It’s 1975, and at first look, her life would seem to be normal and unexceptional. But in the world that Leslie Pietrzyk paints, every moment she chronicles is revealed through the kaleidoscope of loss, stained by the fact that Alice’s mother, without warning, note, or apology, deliberately parks her car on the railroad tracks, in the path of an oncoming train.
In the emotional year that follows, Alice and her older brother find themselves in the care of their great aunt, forced to cope and move forward. Lonely and confused, Alice absorbs herself in her mother Annette’s familiar rituals, trying to recapture their connection -- only to be stunned by the sound of her mother’s voice speaking to her, engaging Alice in "conversations" and offering some insight into the life that she had led, beyond her role as Alice’s mother.
Fifteen-year-old Alice dreams of her first kiss, has sleepovers, auditions for Our Town, and tries to pass high school biology. It’s 1975, and at first look, her life would seem to be normal and unexceptional. But in the world that Leslie Pietrzyk paints, every moment she chronicles is revealed through the kaleidoscope of loss, stained by the fact that Alice’s mother, without warning, note, or apology, deliberately parks her car on the railroad tracks, in the path of an oncoming train.
In the emotional year that follows, Alice and her older brother find themselves in the care of their great aunt, forced to cope and move forward. Lonely and confused, Alice absorbs herself in her mother Annette’s familiar rituals, trying to recapture their connection -- only to be stunned by the sound of her mother’s voice speaking to her, engaging Alice in "conversations" and offering some insight into the life that she had led, beyond her role as Alice’s mother.
August 15, 2011
The day-to-day struggles Alice internalizes as a teenager trying to make it without her mother are touching. It's hard enough being a teenager. But teenager who is different (in this case having the stigma of her mother's suicide hanging over her) makes going to school and facing her peers even more challenging. Overall, the book felt very true to the struggles Alice would be experiencing. As she is discovering who she is and facing her own life with many unanswered questions, Alice walks alone on this journey of self-discovery. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read. However there is nothing about the story that makes it memorable. The characters were average, the coming-of-age story line has been told time and time again, and there wasn't any moment that will stick with me now that I have put the book down.
February 3, 2010
I really enjoyed this book. It focuses on the year after a 15-year old girl loses her mother to suicide. It's not as heavy as it sounds. I enjoyed it because I thought that it captured in a very specific, but subtle way, how we all go through the grieving process. The author did some research for this book, and her knowledge comes through on the pages.
This book is both a well-written and a quiet read. I found it to be a nice change of pace from some of the other things that I have been reading of late. The characters are identifiable and likeable. There are some twists in the story, which keeps things fresh as poor Alice tries to live on without her mother there - or is she there?
This book is both a well-written and a quiet read. I found it to be a nice change of pace from some of the other things that I have been reading of late. The characters are identifiable and likeable. There are some twists in the story, which keeps things fresh as poor Alice tries to live on without her mother there - or is she there?
October 10, 2009
First-person narrative chronicling the year following fifteen-year-old Alice's mother's suicide. Amidst a time when her world is upended Alice "hears" her mother's voice; offering make-up tips, boyfriend advice, sharing secrets from her own shadowy past yet never answering the one thing Alice most wants to know, why? The cast of high school characters is a bit too formulaic but Pietrzyk's writing remain unstilted. Alice's actions seem consistent with someone in her shoes and I think most Americans could identify with her teenage emotions. The setting, small town Iowa in the mid-seventies heightened its appeal for me.
August 31, 2008
Tragic and sad and hopeful and beautiful all in one. The setting of the seventies era enhances the effect of the message this book is putting out there. It brings up an interesting point that as children we often forget that our parents are human beings, without super powers and have lived full lives and experienced many things before and during the time they are our parents that we are not aware of. This book really made me think a lot about my parents and put some things into perspective for me.
January 5, 2011
Pretty good novel, coming of age story of a sixteen year old girl in Iowa struggling to understand why her mother killed herself. The story unfolds as a year in her life as she grieves, grows in understanding both of herself and her mother. It sometimes really captured the scene, such as detasselling corn then a sudden fierce thunderstorm or a slumber party full of girls, but it seemed a little slow or repetitious to me by the end of the book.
May 17, 2011
Fifteen year old Alice and her older brother, Will, deal with the death of their mother in this coming-of-age novel set in a small town in Iowa. I had a lot of empathy for Alice as she tried to find her way through the first year after her mother died without much help from the adults around her. I found that I read this book slowly as I wanted to savor it.
September 29, 2011
I loved the writing style and the prose, and if I were really into the story I would have completed it.
I also loved how the author really described the emotions and the grief, so much so that I could actually see how much Alice and her family were grieving for their mother. However, A Year and A Day isn't really my kind of book so I couldn't complete it.
I also loved how the author really described the emotions and the grief, so much so that I could actually see how much Alice and her family were grieving for their mother. However, A Year and A Day isn't really my kind of book so I couldn't complete it.
December 17, 2009
Pretty good book for the Wal-Mart clearance rack, although I like endings a little more wrapped up and was waiting the whole time to find out why she could hear her dead mother talking to her. Wasn't satisfied with the answer.
March 31, 2011
This novel told such a beautiful story of a growing up, dealing with the loss of a mother, the relationship between brother & sister and the secrets everyone has. Truly a wonderful novel from start to finish.
July 14, 2011
Will be interesting to see what book club thinks....there are some aspects of the novel I really liked--the anger and confusion of not knowing what exactly happened and the cultural time references, but I thought the novel didn't go far enough in explaining and resolving a lot of the books issues.
June 20, 2012
I read this a little while after my friend's mother passed away from breast cancer and this book had me crying. It's absolutely heartbreaking but simply and beautiful all together. I would definitely recommend it!
October 13, 2015
This book leaves me feeling numb, but I have read it three times. It leaves me introspective. It truly captures those moments of growth in a persons life. It's not a must read, but it is a slow down from all the fast paced rest.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews