Emily Perkins Knihy

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013Dorothy Forrest is immersed in the sensory world around her; she lives in the flickering moment. From the age of seven, when her odd, disenfranchised family moves from New York City to the wide skies of Auckland, to the very end of her life, this is her great gift and possible misfortune.Through the wilderness of a commune, to falling in love, to early marriage and motherhood, from the glorious anguish of parenting to the loss of everything worked for and the unexpected return of love, Dorothy is swept along by time. Her family looms and recedes; revelations come to light; death changes everything, but somehow life remains as potent as it ever was, and the joy in just being won't let her go.In a narrative that shifts and moves, growing as wild as the characters, The Forrests is an extraordinary literary achievement. A novel that sings with colour and memory, it speaks of family and time, dysfunction, ageing and loneliness, about heat, youth, and how life can change if 'you're lucky enough to be around for it'.

"Tom Stone is madly in love with his wife Ann. Pushing forty and expecting their first child, they buy a semi-derelict house in Hackney. Despite their spiralling money troubles, they believe this is their settled future. But Ann becomes convinced sheѫs being shadowed by a homeless man whose presence seems like a terrible omen. As their child grows, Annѫs behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, feverish and disturbed. On the verge of losing everything, Tom makes a decision that he hopes will save their lives.Novel About My Wife is a taut, sensuous and chilling portrait of a marriage beset by paranoia and obsession."--Publisher's website.

An extraordinary novel that sings with colour and memory as it charts a life from cradle to grave.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE OCKHAM NZ BOOK AWARDS'The most exciting novel I've read in ages... I gulped it down, so readable, so EXCELLENT about people. Read it' Marian Keyes'This novel is perfection' Glamour'A coolly ironic look at modern womanhood... This is an excellent novel' The TimesYou know how we say we devoured a story, and also that we were consumed by it? Eating and being eaten. It was like that with Claire, for me.From humble beginnings, Therese has let herself grow used to a life of luxury after marrying into an empire-building family. But when rumours of corruption gather around her husband's latest development, the social opprobrium is shocking, the fallout swift, and Therese begins to look at her privileged and insular world with new eyes.In the flat below Therese, something else is brewing. Her neighbour Claire believes she's discovered the secret to living with freedom and authenticity, freeing herself from the mundanity of domesticity. Therese finds herself enchanted by the lure of the permissive zone Claire creates in her apartment - a place of ecstatic release.All too quickly, Therese is forced to confront herself and her choices - just how did she become this person? And what exactly should she do about it?'A thoughtful, intelligent novel about one woman's search for more meaning' Good Housekeeping

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