Staff Pick
You really have to give some giant props to a novel that starts out, "Dear Osama." What follows is a searing portrait of a woman riven by grief, pain, guilt, and horror at the (particularly gruesome) death of her husband and child due to a terrorist attack. While Cleave sure knows how to plumb the depths of current events, he also creates characters who are flawed, duplicitous, and stupid: clearly all too real. Yet, they struggle through their crises with tender underbellies, which mark them as vulnerable and make their morally complicated stories beautiful. Bravo! Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
You aren't stupid.
You know there's no such thing as a perfect mother.
Plenty of other books will tell you there is, but this one
won't lie to you.
I was weak and I cheated and I was punished, but my god
I loved my child through all of it. Love means you never
break, and it means you're stronger than the things they
do to you. I know this is true because I have been through
fire, and I am the proof that love survives.
I am not a perfect mother but I will tell you the perfect
truth, because this is you and me talking.
This is my story.
Review
"A mesmerizing tour de force: ragged, breathless, full of raw emotion, the blackest of humor and relentless action." -- THE WASHINGTON POST
Review
"Stunning." -- THE NEW YORK TIMES
Review
"Brilliant...This is a haunting work of art." -- NEWSWEEK
Review
"An extraordinary accomplishment." -- THE BOSTON GLOBE
Synopsis
A tragicomic open letter to Osama Bin Laden from a young London woman whose husband and son are killed in a terrorist attack on a soccer stadium.
Synopsis
CHRIS CLEAVE is a columnist for The Guardian newspaper in London. His first novel, Incendiary, was published in twenty countries; won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award; was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize; won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Award; and won the Prix Special du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. His second novel, Little Bee, was shortlisted for the prestigious Costa Award for Best Novel. He lives in London with his French wife and three mischievous Anglo-French children. He keeps his website at www.chriscleave.com.