A Lifetime of Men is an exquisite book, one that jumped straight to the top of my favorites list. The novel weaves together the lives of three female protagonists, each of whom faces their own struggles and shows their own particular type of resilience. Bo has a feisty, adventurous spirit, and is trying to make it as a photojournalist at a time where women are expected to marry and keep house and understand that the working world is a man's world. Sarah is an orphan with so much grit and determination. She's always had to fend for herself, and when she finally finds someone she connects with, the woman who is putting a roof over her head makes her choose between the two things she's never had: a stable home and a loving relationship. And then there's Tolan, who is perhaps the most courageous of the three, because even though she's uncovering a lot of secrets about her family, secrets that would devastate anyone, the most powerful demons she's battling are her own.

In one sense, this book was easy to read. The writing is gorgeous, and I found myself so drawn in to each of the characters' worlds that I could not put the book down and the pages flew by. Each time I was with one of the women, I felt so totally engrossed in her story that I didn't want to leave her, yet within a few sentences of moving to one of the other storylines, I was all-in for that character.

But in another, deeper sense, this book is not at all easy. Darrell does not shy away from the darker, grittier realities of life, and the novel raises a lot of tough questions. How much progress have we really made in the fight for women's rights? What does it mean to love someone? Does it matter if our understanding of a healthy, loving relationship doesn't match the definition of those around us? How much should we sacrifice for those we love? What role does violence play in life? In literature? The novel never feels didactic or preachy, and Darrell never sacrifices the story or the characters in order to pursue some philosophical train of thought, and yet the story pushes the reader to think deeply about her own preconceived notions about life, love, and relationships. Time and again, I came up against the edges of my own comfort zone, and then had to sit there and ask myself why? Was it possible that the boundaries by which I defined my comfort zone were arbitrary? Where had I gotten them from in the first place? Did I need to redraw them? I'm still not sure, and to me, that is the mark of an excellent novel, one that makes you think for days, weeks, months after you read it.

Ultimately, A Lifetime of Men reads as a moving tribute to the strength of women, one that affirms both our right and our ability to cut our own path through the world. It is a beautiful, engrossing, powerful, disturbing, and captivating book, and it's one I'm sure I will return to again and again.