Absolution
Published on 1. March 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-0-85789-202-7 (ISBN)
Description
In her garden, ensconced in the lush vegetation of the Western Cape, Clare Wald, world-renowned author, mother, critic, takes up her pen and confronts her life. Sam Leroux has returned to South Africa to embark upon a project that will establish his reputation - he is to write Clare's biography. But how honest is she prepared to be? Was she complicit in crimes lurking in South Africa's past; is she an accomplice or a victim? Are her crimes against her family real or imagined? In the stories she weaves and the truth just below the surface of her shimmering prose, lie Sam's own ghosts.
Reviews / Votes
Absolution is a bold calling card from a major new writer * Independent on Sunday, 'Books of the Year' * Patrick Flanery is an exceptionally gifted novelist, and he is just getting started -- Philip Gourevitch * New Yorker * Flanery's portrayal of South Africa is explosively powerful... An exceptionally intelligent, multi-layered novel encompassing politics, history, a gripping storyline and complex characters. It has absorbing depictions of grief, guilt, parenthood and sibling rivalry, and is beautifully written... Absolution is an exceptional book. * Independent * A taut literary thriller set in South Africa... A very clever, beautifully written book where the reader is constantly adjusting to nothing being as it seems. * Daily Mail * Compelling... At times, Flanery's prose evokes Graham Greene... A literary thriller whose writing is consistently first class. * Observer * Gripping... The prose surges with enjoyable debate about the slipperiness of truth, the nature of forgiveness... Impressive * Sunday Telegraph *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
370 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-85789-202-7 (9780857892027)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2012
Atlantic Books
€6.99
Available for download
Person
Patrick Flanery was born in California in 1975 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. After earning a BFA in Film from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts he worked for three years in the film industry before moving to the UK, where he completed a doctorate in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Oxford. As well as publishing scholarly articles on British and South African literature and film in a number of academic journals, he has written for Slightly Foxed and The Times Literary Supplement. He lives in London.