Ash Wednesday

Second novel by author and writer Ethan Hawke - an acclaimed modern love story

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This book is about two people, three lives, and one love. Is there anything more terrifying than being in love? Jimmy Heartsock is so afraid of losing his love Christy, he is going AWOL from the army and chasing after her in order to propose marriage - in a frozen car park. Christy is terrified, not so much that she's going to have a baby, but because if she takes on Jimmy Heartsock, she may end up with two. How does anyone, ever, make it down the aisle? Can Jimmy stop looking vainly into mirrors, taking recreational drugs, or blaming his father for committing suicide - will he ever grow up? Can Christy stop feeling that their destiny together is to break each other's hearts, that there is a glass wall between her and the world and that her Texan politician father could avert any calamity - if only she deserved it? Are they a couple so afraid of falling, it would be easier to jump? Will they, won't they mess this thing up?
As the unforgettable lovers drive across America, confronting family history, personal hang-ups and questions they've never even asked each other before - about faith, death and learning how to live - the reader is caught up in a sensationally moving, funny and nail-biting drama of love in our time.