num_pages: 333
description: An alternative cover edition can be found hereA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKBALTIMORE WOMAN DISAPPEARS DURING FAMILY VACATION, declares the headline. Forty-year-old Delia Grinstead is last seen strolling down the Delaware shore, wearing nothing more than a bathing suit and carrying a beach tote with five hundred dollars tucked inside. To her husband and three almost-grown children, she has vanished without trace or reason. But for Delia, who feels like a tiny gnat buzzing around her family's edges, "walking away from it all" is not a premeditated act, but an impulse that will lead her into a new, exciting, and unimagined life . . . . 
language: English
title: Ladder of Years
titlecomplete: Ladder of Years
genres: Fiction, Literature, Adult Fiction, Adult, Womens, Womens Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels, Contemporary, Family
ratings_count: 17447
awards: awardedAt: 820483200000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Shortlist
publisher: Vintage