Synopses & Reviews
Powerful and lean,
Eleven Days is an astonishing first novel full of suspense that addresses our most basic questions about war as it tells of the love between a mother and her son. When the story opens on May 11, 2011, Sara’s son, Jason, has been missing for nine days from a Special Operations Forces mission on the same night as the Bin Laden raid. Smart, young, and bohemian, Sara had dreams of an Ivy League university for Jason that were not out of reach, followed by a job on the Hill where there were connections through his father. The events of 9/11 changed Jason’s mind and Sara accepted that, steeping herself in all things military to better understand her son’s days, while she works as a freelance editor for Washington policy makers and wonks.
Now she knows nothing more about Jason’s fate than the crowds of well-wishers and media camped out in the driveway in front of her small farmhouse in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, waiting to hear news. In a series of flashbacks we learn about Jason’s dashing absentee father, a man who said he was a writer but whose career seemed to involve being in faraway places. And through letters Jason writes home from his training and early missions, we get a picture of a strong, compassionate leader who is wise beyond his years and modest about his abilities. Those exceptional abilities will give Jason the chance to participate in a wholly different level of assignment, the most important and dangerous of his career. At the end Sara will find herself on an unexpected journey full of surprise.
This is a haunting narrative about a mother’s bond with her son; about life choices; about the military, war, and service to one’s country. Lea Carpenter, a dazzling new talent with the kind of strong and distinctive voice that comes along all too rarely, has given us a thrilling and unforgettable story.
Review
“Eleven Days is a powerful, moving read: Jason and his Argonauts reborn as Navy Seals. But it is far more than just a compelling story; it’s a window onto the new world of 21st century warfare. I would assign it in any high school or college class on international politics or national security.” Anne-Marie Slaughter, author of Keeping Faith with our Values in a Dangerous World
Review
“A compelling story made memorable by the strength of its elegant prose.” Toni Morrison, author of Home
Review
“What Denis Johnson did for the Vietnam War in Tree of Smoke, Lea Carpenter does for Iraq and Afghanistan in her superb Eleven Days. She drills deeply into the culture and lore of special operations warfare, and just as deeply into the minds of the people — the military-intellectual complex, if you will — who ultimately determine the American way of making war. But at the core of this extraordinary novel is the love of a mother for her child. That's the story of us all, and that's the story that may well break your heart.” Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Review
“Eleven Days is an extraordinary accomplishment. Written with an elegant precision, this book is at its core a story about love: between a mother and a son, a son and a father, and a special group of men for each other and the imperfect country they choose to serve. I highly recommend it.” Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds
Synopsis
A stunning debut novel — unexpected, tautly written, suspenseful — that touches on some of the most profound questions we have about war as it tells us a haunting story of a single mother, and her Navy SEAL son.
It begins in May 2011: Sara's son Jason has been missing for nine days in the aftermath of a SEAL mission. Out of devotion to him, Sara — smart, modest, tough-minded — has made herself knowledgeable about things military, and, as a freelance editor, she frequently works for Washington policy makers and wonks. But she knows nothing more about her son's disappearance than the press corps camped out in her driveway. In a series of flashbacks we learn about Jason's absentee father: a man who claimed to have been a writer but who died, according to "insiders," helping to make the country safer. Through letters Jason wrote his mother while training, we see him becoming a strong, compassionate leader. But his fate will be determined by events that fall outside the sphere of his training, and far outside the strong embrace of his mother's love.
About the Author
Lea Carpenter graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton and earned an MBA from Harvard, where she was valedictorian. An editor of Zoetrope and a former deputy publisher of The Paris Review, she launched Think, See, Feel where she writes the English Lessons blog as well as being a blogger for Big Think, which has two million unique visitors a month.