Wild Aster
- Author
- Anna Hogeland
- Narrator
- Marley Otto
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 1 December 2026
- Run Time
- 12 hours 55 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
"A novel that marries the feel of a timeless classic with a sharp, contemporary sensibility” (Alexis Schaitkin) about a woman with a talent for survival, whose life spans the early twentieth century.
Mae Smith starts her life as a stolen good: her biological mother, Ida, kidnaps her from her adoptive parents, and Mae grows up on the run, constantly changing towns and names, never able to find a home. After her mother’s death, Mae is determined to live a different kind of life. But over the next half century, as she reinvents herself against the backdrop of the Depression and Second World War and pursues stability amid the personal upheavals of marriage and motherhood, she must reckon with the choices she’s made and life’s inexorable turns.
For readers of Alice McDermott, Anita Diamant, and Maggie Shipstead, Wild Aster explores the price of security, the drive to be a different mother than your own, and the daily gains and losses that define who we become. Ultimately, Mae’s story challenges us to confront the choices we make for personal fulfillment and family obligation and the perseverance that even a seemingly ordinary life demands.
Critics Review
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A triumph. Anna Hogeland's Wild Aster is a novel that quietly insists on the power of choosing the life you want to live, even in the face of pain, loss, and a world that argues that you can't.
Shelf Awareness (starred review)
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Hogeland paints her characters with a fine brush, especially Mae, showing how she resists and eventually draws on her late mother’s example to find herself. This will stay with readers.
Publishers Weekly
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This is a gentle, generous portrait of a twentieth-century life that fired my imagination. Each life in this novel, however seemingly ordinary, holds worlds of longing.
Colum McCann, New York Times Bestselling author of Twist and Let the Great World Spin
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an appealing read. . . Hogeland’s cool, precise style, lit with evocative notes. . . [and] Mae’s evolution, her singular, steadfast comebacks when faced with a parade of changing circumstances, give the book its compulsive quality. . . A satisfying saga.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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Wild Aster is an unsparing deep-dive of a novel that takes its time to tell one woman’s ordinary, extraordinary, defiant story. Anna Hogeland’s unorthodox portraits of motherhood, family, friendship, and mid-century womanhood are all fascinating and complicated in the best ways – fervent, complex, and, best of all, unexpected.
Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is and Enormous Wings
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Exquisitely written, Wild Aster charts the legacy of motherhood and the echoes of our choices. A shining novel that captures the beauty and bravery of ordinary life.
Serena Burdick, USA Today bestselling author of THE GIRLS WITH NO NAMES and A PROMISE TO ARLETTE
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Wild Aster is the story of Mae, an unforgettable woman who moves through life in a singular way. But it is also the story of all women—those in 20th century America but also in today's world—as both challenges and opportunities arise, and lives inevitably change. Anna Hogeland’s prose and psychological insights are stunning; it is hard not to root for Mae as she finds her way home.
Laura Spence-Ash, bestselling author of BEYOND THAT, THE SEA
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Wild Aster spans decades of quiet tragedy, but delivers one of the most satisfying endings I have read in a long time. Hogeland’s prose feels like a character in its own right, stoic and resolute, leaving space for readers to consider their own longing, loss, and repair.
Cara Wall, author of THE DEARLY BELOVED
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Wild Aster is that rare thing: a novel that marries the feel of a timeless classic with a sharp, contemporary sensibility . . . Mae herself is a singular protagonist, filled with strength, curiosity, and an unwavering commitment to herself that I found completely mesmerizing. I fell in love with her and with this beautiful, insightful book.
Alexis Schaitkin, author of SAINT X and ELSEWHERE
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Breathtaking.
The New York Times Book Review on THE LONG ANSWER
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A brilliant debut . . . Anna Hogeland writes beautifully, with unwavering passion and insight.
Jess Walter, New York Times-bestselling author of THE COLD MILLIONS on THE LONG ANSWER
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I’ve never read a book that speaks so bravely, and eloquently, about the burdens that women carry . . . A masterpiece.
Steve Almond, New York Times-bestselling author of ALL THE SECRETS OF THE WORLD on THE LONG ANSWER
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An introspective, psychologically astute, and engaging debut . . . A startling meditation on grief and family and betrayal and the stories we tell about ourselves.
Kirkus Reviews, starred review on THE LONG ANSWER
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Anna Hogeland
- Narrator
- Marley Otto
- Duration
- 12 hours 55 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 December 2026
- ISBN
- 9781639739172
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Fiction: literary and general non-genre
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents <i>Wild Aster</i> by Anna Hogeland, read by Marley Otto.<br><b></b><br><b>"A novel that marries the feel of a timeless classic with a sharp, contemporary sensibility” (Alexis Schaitkin) about a woman with a talent for survival, whose life spans the early twentieth century.</b><br><br>Mae Smith starts her life as a stolen good: her biological mother, Ida, kidnaps her from her adoptive parents, and Mae grows up on the run, constantly changing towns and names, never able to find a home. After her mother’s death, Mae is determined to live a different kind of life. But over the next half century, as she reinvents herself against the backdrop of the Depression and Second World War and pursues stability amid the personal upheavals of marriage and motherhood, she must reckon with the choices she’s made and life’s inexorable turns.<br><br>For readers of Alice McDermott, Anita Diamant, and Maggie Shipstead, <i>Wild Aster</i> explores the price of security, the drive to be a different mother than your own, and the daily gains and losses that define who we become. Ultimately, Mae’s story challenges us to confront the choices we make for personal fulfillment and family obligation and the perseverance that even a seemingly ordinary life demands.
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