Physics of Sunset

An affair to remember, Jane Vandenburgh's new novel is a spellbinding and fearless portrait of the complex erotics of modern married life.

Fire, flood, and earthquake—the typical California disaster scenario pales in comparison to the calamity waiting to occur when Anna meets Alex in The Physics of Sunset. Fellow Easterners-in-exile-to-Berkeley, the almost-divorced poet Anna and the very married architect Alex start an affair that soon threatens their formerly well-ordered lives. Science, sex, and the clash between East and West (coasts) form the nucleus of this blisteringly smart satire of contemporary mores and morals.

"The sex alone makes the pages tremble, but there is much more, brilliantly told. She is the Colette and Jean Rhys of our own Côte d'Azur."—James Salter

"Each of the many layers of this new novel exudes a quirky brilliance, lots of soul and acerbic humor, with great tenderness shining underneath it all."—Anne Lamott

"In this elegant book, a season of freedom and joy—an escape into secrecy from the politics of liberation by two people bound for a time to one another—leads to suffering that is profound and clarifying."—Wendell Berry

"The Physics of Sunset is a gorgeous poem to human and physical observation. Reading it is like being given the gift of second sight."—John Burnham Schwartz

Author Biography: Jane Vandenburgh is the author of Failure to Zigzag. She lives in Washington, D.C.