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  • Published: 8 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781400061761
  • Imprint: Random House US Group
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $65.00

Solstice

A Novel

  • Carol Gilligan



A brilliant but restless dancer discovers the true meaning of love and intimacy through all the ebbs and flows of her marriage in this exquisitely written novel—from a bestselling author and psychologist whose feminist classic, In a Different Voice, revolutionized our understanding of women’s lives

"A literary tour de force . . . an irresistable read."—Daphne Merkin

A brilliant but restless dancer discovers the true meaning of love and intimacy through the ebbs and flows of her marriage in this exquisitely written novel—from the bestselling author and psychologist whose feminist classic, In a Different Voice, revolutionized our understanding of women’s lives.

"A literary tour de force . . . an irresistible read."—Daphne Merkin
"A remarkable work by a remarkable writer."—Gish Jen

Boston, 1969. Eve, a dancer whose feelings are expressed through the body and movement, senses an inexplicable distance growing between herself and her husband, Gabe, a journalist and father of her two children. Feeling lost and alone, she begins an affair; Gabe detects it immediately and begins one himself. Yet somehow they find their way back to each other, and when Eve gives birth to a daughter, their marriage becomes vital again.

Years later, when Gabe returns from a reporting trip to the Middle East and Berlin, Eve again perceives something is wrong in her marriage. He has always had a darkness she could not fathom—deep psychological scars from his childhood, when Gabe escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport.

Amsterdam, 1991. Newly separated from Gabe, Eve has accepted a fellowship to choreograph a dance inspired by the story of Adam and Eve. When a colleague introduces her to a new translation of the ancient text, Eve begins to redefine the way she thinks about women, men, and relationships—and, perhaps, to see another path back to her marriage.

In this emotionally riveting novel, Carol Gilligan draws on her unsurpassed psychological understanding of women's lives to explore a new vision of love and intimacy. Sweeping across decades and continents, Solstice is a provocative and profound portrait of what it takes to truly love another.

  • Published: 8 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781400061761
  • Imprint: Random House US Group
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $65.00

Praise for Solstice

  • "Love, life, and art, each feeding and being fed by the next—no one draws the connections like Carol Gilligan. Solstice is a remarkable work by a remarkable writer, in whose generative hands head meets, at last, heart."—Gish Jen
  • “But for all its wide-ranging themes, Solstice is first and foremost an irresistible read.”—Daphne Merkin
  • "What if a woman follows what she feels to be true, no matter the judgment it brings? What if an ancient story can be a beacon to bring lovers home? Carol Gilligan’s vibrant new novel invites us into a love story unlike any other. Kaleidoscopic, sensual, and wholly unique, Solstice is a novel to treasure.”—Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink