Imperfect Birds: A Novel - Hardcover

Lamott, Anne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594487510 ISBN 13: 9781594487514

Publisher: Riverhead Books, 2010

Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hallelujah Anyway, Almost Everything, and Bird by Bird, a powerful and redemptive novel of love and family

Rosie Ferguson is seventeen and ready to enjoy the summer before her senior year of high school. She's intelligent-she aced AP physics; athletic-a former state-ranked tennis doubles champion; and beautiful. She is, in short, everything her mother, Elizabeth, hoped she could be. The family's move to Landsdale, with stepfather James in tow, hadn't been as bumpy as Elizabeth feared.

But as the school year draws to a close, there are disturbing signs that the life Rosie claims to be leading is a sham, and that Elizabeth's hopes for her daughter to remain immune from the pull of the darker impulses of drugs and alcohol are dashed. Slowly and against their will, Elizabeth and James are forced to confront the fact that Rosie has been lying to them-and that her deceptions will have profound consequences.

This is Anne Lamott's most honest and heartrending novel yet, exploring our human quest for connection and salvation as it reveals the traps that can befall all of us.

About this title

About the Author

Anne Lamott is the New York Times bestselling author of Help, Thanks, Wow; Small Victories; Stitches; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; Traveling Mercies; Bird by Bird; Operating Instructions, and the forthcoming Hallelujah Anyway. She is also the author of several novels, including Imperfect Birds and Rosie. A past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, she lives in Northern California.

From AudioFile

The age-old conflict between parent and child takes a distinctly contemporary turn in Lamott's latest novel. Elizabeth, an emotionally fragile mother with a history of alcoholism, must help her daughter, Rosie, navigate similar perils. Susan Denaker's composed performance makes this family drama difficult to ignore. Rather than using overwrought tones to depict the friction between mother and daughter, Denaker devises distinct voices for each character and delivers them evenly, allowing for quieter, more likable characters--like the ironic James, Elizabeth's husband--to temper the strife. Denaker's calm adds depth to these relationships, and the manipulation and power struggles that go with them. More than anything, this audio performance asks, "What would you do?" L.B.F. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1594487510
• ISBN 13: 9781594487514
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288