FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED
‘An astonishing family drama . . . almost certainly the best American novel you will read this year’
Sunday Telegraph
‘Almost impossible to put down’
Independent
‘Masterful’
The Times
‘Wonderful’
Observer
While clearing out their late father’s papers, Erik and Inga Davidsen unearth a cryptic letter from his adolescence. Desperate to discover the man they never fully understood, they set about reading his memoir.
As the siblings are drawn into his past, their lives are upended by two strangers. Erik becomes captivated by Miranda, a young mother who moves into his garden flat. And Inga, still grieving her husband’s recent death, is threatened by a journalist in possession of a devastating secret.
‘One of the most profound and absorbing books I’ve read in a long time’
Washington Post
‘An astonishing family drama . . . almost certainly the best American novel you will read this year’
Sunday Telegraph
‘Almost impossible to put down’
Independent
‘Masterful’
The Times
‘Wonderful’
Observer
While clearing out their late father’s papers, Erik and Inga Davidsen unearth a cryptic letter from his adolescence. Desperate to discover the man they never fully understood, they set about reading his memoir.
As the siblings are drawn into his past, their lives are upended by two strangers. Erik becomes captivated by Miranda, a young mother who moves into his garden flat. And Inga, still grieving her husband’s recent death, is threatened by a journalist in possession of a devastating secret.
‘One of the most profound and absorbing books I’ve read in a long time’
Washington Post
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Reviews
Beautifully thought through, deeply serious and enormously intelligent
This passionately conceived, coolly delivered work is almost certainly the best American novel you will read all year . . . not to be missed
A mystery story that develops into a subtle and complex novel . . . sharp, confident, tolerant and civilised
This novel is easily described as wonderful . . . THE SORROWS OF AN AMERICAN feels like a very personal story and is all the more intimate for it . . . her skill lies in convincing the reader that we have seen right inside someone's soul
For all its cerebral riches, this novel is composed with superb artistry, Hustvedt handles the numerous interlocking narratives with immense skill. . . It is proof of Hustvedt's talent that the terrors of this novel feel real
This satisfying and emotionally rich follow-up to Ms Hustvedt's acclaimed WHAT I LOVED treads some similar themes: love and loss; the limits of perception; the drama of dreams; and the need to craft coherent stories from the unreliable fragments of memory. As with her previous novel, Ms Hustvedt's cerebral characters are tenderly drawn, wise and realistic . . . a beautifully sincere examination of the grim traps of over-active minds
A novel of deep wisdom and storytelling
'It is a rare writer who can both rouse the mind and grip the heart, and all the while provide the sensuous delights of image and language. In her new novel, as in What I Loved, Siri Hustvedt does that and more . . . a book that's almost impossible to put down, and even harder not to re-read'