Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book: One woman’s search for the value of a long life With the advent of her seventieth birthday, many changes have beset Doris Grumbach: the rapidly accelerating speed of the world around her, the premature deaths of her younger friends, her own increasing infirmities, and her move from cosmopolitan Washington, DC, to the calm of the Maine coast. Coming into the End Zone is an account of everything Grumbach observes over the course of a year. Astute observations and vivid memories of quotidian events pepper her story, which surprises even her with its fullness and vigor. Coming into the End Zone captures the days of a woman entering a new stage of life with humanity and abiding hope.