Incendiary: A Novel (Book Club Readers Edition)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Little Bee comes “a gripping story…and portrayal of a woman unraveling in the face of overwhelming grief” (The Boston Globe) a “sensitive, artful, and deft…near-perfect debut” (Baltimore Sun).

A distraught woman writes a letter to one of history’s most notorious criminals after her young son and her husband are killed in a bomb attack at a soccer match in London. In an emotionally raw voice alive with grief, compassion, and startling humor, she tries to convince him to abandon his terror campaign by revealing to him the desperate sadness—“I am a woman built on the wreckage of myself”—and the broken heart of a working-class life blown apart.

A surreal vision made brilliantly, viscerally powerful and undeniable, Incendiary is a “a mesmerizing tour de force” (The Washington Post).

Dr. Chris Cleave is an existential psychotherapist, practicing psychologist, and #1 New York Times bestselling writer whose work explores how human beings recover meaning, connection, and agency after trauma. His novels are translated into thirty-five languages, and he has spent two decades writing about the inner lives of people under extreme pressure. Alongside his literary career, Cleave maintains a clinical practice in London. Find him at ChrisCleave.com.