Sandwich
For two decades, Rocky and her family have spent a week each summer in the same humble rental on Cape Cod. Now fifty-four, Rocky is squeezed between two generations: grown children who no longer live at home and parents who are growing frail. Over the course of one chaotic, tender week, surrounded by old memories and the cottage's failing plumbing, Rocky moves through menopause, grief, marriage, and a couple of long-held secrets she has kept from the people she loves. Catherine Newman writes with sharp humor and real feeling about middle age, motherhood, and the bittersweet job of holding a family together. The novel is short, funny, and quietly moving.
What you might want to know about Sandwich
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
During a family week at the Cape, a fifty-four-year-old woman caught between grown kids and aging parents confronts old secrets and a changing body.
Yes. Ann Patchett recommended it on PBS NewsHour's summer reading segment in 2024.
The title refers to the sandwich generation, adults caring for their children and their aging parents at the same time, which is the situation the narrator is in.
Sandwich was written by Catherine Newman, published in 2024 by Harper.
Sandwich is 240 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Sandwich takes most readers 4 to 5 hours to finish.
Sandwich is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
