Free-spirited Lily has always played the peacemaker between her fierce, doting sister, Laverne, and her own loving, garrulous husband, Hal, as they competed for her attention. The competition has only grown worse since the three of them moved into a large house in the town of Sussex, New Brunswick. On Lily’s 58th birthday, a steamy day in late June, Laverne feels she has bested Hal by winning her sister’s company for a gourmet lunch, but it becomes a bitter and short-lived victory when the day’s events take an unexpected and tragic turn. In The Birthday Lunch, Joan Clark explores the different ways each member of Lily's family confronts her shocking death: Hal's open sorrow, her daughter Claudia's reappraisal of her own life, her son Matt's determination to assign blame. And unforgettably, Laverne's eccentricity and isolation, her intensifying conflict with Hal, illuminates the brutal territory of accusation and regret. Compassionate and engrossing with a powerful sense of place, The Birthday Lunch is an extraordinary new novel from one of our most gifted storytellers.