Terry McMillan of Waiting to Exhale and A Day Late and a Dollar Short fame, returns with her latest novel, The Interruption of Everything, demonstrating that as the author matures in her writing, so too do her characters gain a sense of wisdom that can only happen with age and experience. Marilyn Grimes is a 40-something-year-old wife and part-time crafts store worker who has had to put the demands of taking care of her family over her own personal goals, hopes and dreams, and now that middle age has come, she finds the cumulative results of her life wanting: her children are grown up, in school, and unappreciative of her, her 25-year marriage is passionless, her mother is becoming senile, her sister is battling drug addiction, and her mother-in-law is demanding.

Marilyn desires to spark a change in her life, daring to consider her own needs for once (such as finishing her graduate degree), just as her family’s various crises are coming to a head. Her husband, Leon, is reconsidering his professional future, marriage, and fashion sense. Her sister, Joy, is struggling towards sobriety. Her mother-in-law, Arthurine, is starting to date again. Her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. To top it all off, Marilyn’s ex-husband reappears and incites rekindled feelings.

McMillan’s thought-provoking, evocative, and deftly written style unfolds this well-crafted tale with humor, sadness, and understanding that will find resonation in many of her readers. McMillan has always given a voice to young African-American women; this time, she weaves a tale that crosses ethnicity and culture, as The Interruption of Everything will find a home in the hearts of many female readers.