August 7th, 2026
Home | Log in!
Welcome to FreshFiction

Are you a reader
or an author?

Help us personalize your experience. Choose your role below.
You can always change this later using the switcher button.

or

You can switch anytime using the floating button.

Limited Time Fresh Fiction Access

Exclusive Marketing Opportunities for Authors

Curious about how Fresh Access helps authors gain more visibility and connect with active readers?

Discover premium promotional opportunities, enhanced exposure, and author-focused services designed to help your books stand out.

Read More →
📚 New Books This Week 📰 Latest News 🎪 Reader Games

Fresh Fiction for August Is Here

Cowboys, castles, and shiftersβ€”this month has it all.

Slideshow image


slideshow image
Hotter than a Tuscan summer.


slideshow image
Some promises cost you the one you love.


slideshow image
Only she can pull him back from the darkness.


slideshow image
One golden retriever knows this is love.


slideshow image
Trust is the fiercest transformation of all.


slideshow image
From Himalayan stargazing to the London Blitzβ€”one love endures.

THE CRADLE
By: Patrick Somerville

A Novel

Little Brown and Company
March 2009
On Sale: March 9, 2009
208 pages
ISBN: 0316036129
EAN: 9780316036122
Hardcover
Add to Wish List

Fiction

Early one summer morning, Matthew Bishop kisses his still-sleeping wife Marissa, gets dressed and eases his truck through Milwaukee, bound for the highway. His wife, pregnant with their first child, has asked him to find the antique cradle taken years before by her mother Caroline when she abandoned Marissa, never to contact her daughter again. Soon to be a mother herself, Marissa now dreams of nothing else but bringing her baby home to the cradle she herself slept in. His wife does not know-does not want to know-where her mother lives, but Matt has an address for Caroline's sister near by and with any luck, he will be home in time for dinner.

Only as Matt tries to track down his wife's mother, he discovers that Caroline, upon leaving Marissa, has led a life increasingly plagued by impulse and irrationality, a mysterious life that grows more inexplicable with each new lead Matt gains, and door he enters. As hours turn into days and Caroline's trail takes Matt from Wisconsin to Minnesota, Illinois, and beyond in search of the cradle, Matt makes a discovery that will forever change Marissa's life, and faces a decision that will challenge everything he has ever known.

Elegant and astonishing, Patrick Somerville tells the story of one man's journey into the heart of marriage, parenthood, and what it means to be a family. Confirming the arrival of an exuberantly talented new writer, THE CRADLE is an uniquely imaginative debut novel that radiates with wisdom and wonder.

Media Buzz

Today - April 18, 2009

© 2003-2026 off-the-edge.net  all rights reserved Privacy Policy