Ashley N Roth
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We Never Took a Bad Picture
Ashley N Roth
April Gloaming
IBSN: 978-1-953932-33-4
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It’s been thirty years since the Joyces made a final pact to save their failing marriage. Gloria Joyce knows the anniversary party she’s planning is more than a celebration–it’s a crack in the promise she made to her husband after losing their teenage son.
Artie has spent decades retreating into the mundane and orderly world of his grocery store to avoid facing the choices he made as a father and husband. Will the party finally force him to confront the past—or shatter the only routines holding him together?
When their estranged daughter Autumn returns for the party, she is forced to navigate the strained relationship with her mother and own daughter, along with the festering guilt surrounding the role she played in her baby brother’s untimely death. As the party looms nearer, the family faces new tragedies, forcing the Joyces to confront what they’ve buried beneath decades of curated memories and a crafted veneer.
With timelines and voices that weave seamlessly between decades, We Never Took a Bad Picture explores the curation of memories and legacies, intergenerational complexities, and the quiet battles fought behind closed doors.
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Praise
“Sweeping elegantly through decades of American life while bursting with intimate, visceral close-ups, We Never Took a Bad Picture lays bare one struggling family’s heartache and betrayals, their moments of joy and forgiveness and acceptance, as they attempt to hold on—to make it last in spite of it all. I won’t forget Gloria, Artie, or anyone else in this absorbing tale. It belongs on your shelf of Great American Novels.”
–Susannah Felts, writer and founder of The Porch.
“In We Never Took a Bad Picture, Ashley N Roth has written a beautifully complicated story. Roth's lyricism gives our lives the heft and present-ness it deserves. On a literal level, how Roth organizes her book proves time really is the revelator. We see the beginnings and endings almost simultaneously: nothing is lost over the churn of years. Most important, though, is we also see those glimmering instances that make the day worth it. . . those true moments of bliss. Those are what we live for, no matter how quickly they might come and go. This book makes that point so apparent. It's a message of love.”
–Chet Weise, writer, musician, editor at Third Man Books
“Ashley N Roth juxtaposes past and present, skillfully weaving these shifts in a way that contrasts different generations, novel ways of recovering from grief and loss, and reflections on the concept of growing old together.”
–Midwest Book Review
“Roth’s novel is a lyrical examination of all the things photos leave out: strained relationships, broken trust, bad choices, and their ineffable consequences. The narrative’s objectivity to both parties in
the Joyce marriage is refreshing, as Roth takes a keen interest in all her characters, even the ones who cause the most harm.”
–Independent Book Review
“Roth weaves a narrative of Gloria and Artie’s shared life and marriage, artfully transitioning from each person’s perspective in the same way she transitions between decades.”
–Chapter 16
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Book Tour: Save the Dates!
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March 29, 2025 5pm (Official Launch Party!) Random Sample, Nashville, TN
April 15, 2025 5:30pm
Nocturne Reading Series
Vanderbilt Barnes and Noble
Nashville, TN
June 21, 2025 1:00pm
Alex's Bar
Long Beach, CA