"In The Taste of Air, Cleare deftly explores the consequence of our choices, even those made with the best of intentions. A family saga bridging decades and filled with shocking revelations, hope and love, you won't be able put this book down." ~Kate Moretti, author of NYT Bestseller "Thought I Knew You"
"In this terrific novel, when two women learn their mother wasn't who they thought she was it leads them to question their own lives and choices. Deftly written, with lush descriptions of the New England setting, this is a book to choose as a companion for curling up on a sofa on a dark winter day or for laying on the beach in the summer. The Taste of Air is character-driven fiction at its best." ~Ann Warner, author of The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club series
A simple phone call disrupts Nell Williams’s well-ordered life. Her mother, Mary, is in a hospital in Vermont. But her mother is supposed to be safely tucked away in an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, so Nell can’t fathom why she would be so far from home.
After notifying her sister, Bridget, Nell hops on a plane and rushes to her mother’s side. There, she discovers that her mother has been living a second life. Mary has another home and a set of complex relationships with people her daughters have never met.
When Nell and Bridget delve deeper into their mother’s lakeside hideaway, they uncover a vault of family secrets and the gateway to change for all three women.