A masterful novel about a violent crime and its reverberations throughout a community - as timely and relevant in 2019 as it was when first published in 2001

'We were the Mulvaneys, remember us? For a long time you envied us, then you pitied us. For a long time you admired us, then you thought Good! that's what they deserve.'

The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm are blessed. But then, on Valentine's Day 1976, something happens to Marianne, the pretty sixteen-year-old daughter, and nothing will ever be the same again ...

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The unforgettable story of the rise, fall and ultimate redemption of an American family. Selected by Oprah Winfrey Book Club. / An Oprah Winfrey Book Club Selection - 'I read this book over a year ago, but this family still haunts me.' Oprah Winfrey / Following in the wake of Joyce Carol Oates's critically acclaimed novel 'Blonde' / To be submitted for Summer Reading promotions / Sure to lead paperback review coverage / 'It is a book that will break your heart, heal it, then break it again every time you think about it." Los Angeles Times / 'Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they're wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman.' The Herald, review of Blonde

About the Author

Joyce Carol Oates is a novelist, critic, playwright, poet and author of short stories and is one of America's most highly respected literary figures. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University. Her most recent novel, 'The Gravedigger's Daughter', was published in 2007.

Reviews

'This family still haunts me' Oprah Winfrey

'We Were the Mulvaneys works not simply because of its meticulous details and gestures...What keeps us coming back to Oates Country is something stronger and spookier: her uncanny gift of making the page a window, with something on the other side that we'd swear was life itself' The New York Times Book Review

'A brilliantly detailed and varied picture of family life and a succession of dramatic set pieces...These are people we recognise, and she makes us care deeply about them' Kirkus

'Oates's prose contains a deep-felt rawness which hovers hovers betwee hope, despair and love' Guardian

'Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they're wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman' Herald, review of Blonde

Book Information
ISBN 9781841156996
Author Joyce Carol Oates
Format Paperback
Page Count 464
Imprint Fourth Estate Ltd
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 320g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 29mm