Sunrise at 7

In Alex B. Stone's unusual new novel, time seems to stand still as the three Kramer sisters gather at heir parents' winter retreat on Sanibel Island, Florida. The youngest daughter, Emmie, is launching a political career and needs money. The middle daughter, Erna, plans a gallery in Paris after her divorce and needs money. The eldest daughter, Edith, sees behind her a life half-lived and little promise in the future. Over an indeterminate number of days, their conversations circle back on one another, voices and yearnings become indistinguishable, and a family member dies: yet the conversation goes on, as the daughters of Richard Kramer struggle for understanding among themselves and their parents. Here is a quiet tour de force in which the truth can be found not in sudden epiphanies but unstated in the rhythms of day-to-day life.