![]() ![]() Williams then takes us back to 1959, introducing Paul’s wife, Nat, and their two young daughters. The novel opens with a brief prologue set in 1961, which finds Paul Collier, an operator for a small nuclear reactor, in a panic as the reactor melts down. ![]() The subtlety she employs makes the novel’s twists and turns-and especially its conclusion-all the more affecting, even devastating. This is not to imply that Williams shies away from harsh truths. The Longest Night is a closely observed study with its feet planted firmly in domestic realism. Given this, ahem, explosive premise, it’s interesting to note that Williams’ debut eschews the extremities favored by the likes of Edward Albee or Gillian Flynn. Andria Williams, however, may well be the first to set marital tribulations against the backdrop of a (literal) nuclear meltdown. From Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to Gone Girl, contemporary marriage has frequently been subject to scathing literary portrayals. ![]()
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