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Precious

by Sandra Novack

ISBN13: 9781400066803
ISBN10: 1400066808
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
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The summer of 1978, ten-year-old Vicki Anderson rides her bike to the local park and goes missing. Her tight-knit blue-collar Pennsylvania neighborhood, where children roam the streets at night playing lightning tag, aboveground pools sparkle in backyards, and flowers scent the air, will never be the same.

Down the street from Vickis house, another family is in crisis. Troubled by her past, headstrong Natalia Kisch has abandoned her husband and two daughters for another man. Frank Kisch, grappling with his anger, is left to raise their girls alone, oblivious to his daughters struggles with both disappearances: Eva, seventeen, plunges into an affair with her married high school teacher, and nine-year-old Sissy escapes to a world of imagination and storytelling that becomes so magical it pierces the reality of the everyday.

When Natalia unexpectedly returns, the struggles and tensions that have built over the summer erupt into a series of events that change the Kisches irrevocablyforcing them to piece together their complicated pasts and commitments to each other.

In this haunting, atmospheric debut, Sandra Novack examines loss, loyalty, and a family in crisis. Lyrical and elegiac, Precious illuminates our attempts to make sense of the volatility that surrounds and consumes us, and explores our ability, even during the most trying times, to remember and hold on to those we love most.

About the Author

Sandra Novacks fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Gettysburg Review, Gulf Coast, and Mississippi Review, among other publications. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times, and holds an MFA from Vermont College. Novack currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, Phil, and many animals.

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

: Jill Powers, May 6, 2009 (view all comments by Jill Powers)
The beautiful language and incredibly strong characterization make this book an absolute joy to read. Novack's characters were so vivid, and their emotions so real, I had no trouble visualizing them in my mind.
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: KatDenza, April 6, 2009 (view all comments by KatDenza)
The depth of Ms. Novack's soul and heart must be so large as to be immeasurable because surely one cannot write a story like this one with anything less. This novel had me sobbing not just at the end, but also in the middle at the most unexpected times. Novack is a writer who understands the power of connecting emotionally to her reader.

"Precious" is the story of what happens to a family when a little girl goes missing in their small town. But while the disappearance hangs heavy in the periphery, a storm is raging within the Kisch family. And journeying through that storm, one learns just how vulnerable a child's (and teen's) limited understanding of the adult world makes her. The aftermath leaves no one untouched, including this reader.

I was impressed with Novack's technical ability: lovely, exciting, elegant sentences that weave the tale, seemingly effortless, from start to finish; masterful handling of the omniscient pov; and brilliantly carved characters.

Reading this book was a rewarding and gut-wrenching Experience. I cannot wait to read another by this extremely talented author.
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Product Details

ISBN:: 9781400066803
Author:: Novack, Sandra
Publisher:: Random House (NY)
Subject:: Family
Subject:: Fathers and daughters
Subject:: General
Subject:: Love stories
Subject:: General Fiction
Publication Date:: February 2009
Binding:: Hardcover
Grade Level:: General/trade
Language:: English
Pages:: 274
Dimensions:: 9.42x6.42x1.05 in. 1.07 lbs.

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