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Absolution

By Alice McDermott
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Absolution by Alice McDermott is set in 1963 Saigon, where Tricia, a shy newlywed, and Charlene, a seasoned corporate spouse, navigate the complex demands of being wives to ambitious American men involved in Vietnam. As they strive to balance respectability with their own desires to effect change, their lives intertwine against the backdrop of the escalating Vietnam War. Sixty years later, Charlene’s daughter rekindles ties with Tricia, prompting a poignant reflection on the women's roles and the unintended effects of America's involvement in Southeast Asia. This evocative novel explores themes of sacrifice, obligation, and the search for forgiveness amidst political turmoil.
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Format: Hardback
$4499
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Absolution will appeal to readers interested in historical fiction, particularly those fascinated by the personal impacts of the Vietnam War and the nuanced experiences of women during this turbulent period.

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THE TOP 10 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'One of the finest contemporary novels I've read ... A moral masterpiece' ANN PATCHETT

'Her writing has a luminous kind of clarity, a grace and scope that fills me with wonder' RACHEL JOYCE

'Damning and dazzling ... The story of a Vietnam we never got in history class' OPRAH DAILY

-----------------

You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives.

1963. Saigon. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney working for US Navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. The two women form a wary alliance as they struggle to balance the pressure to be respectable wives for their ambitious husbands, with their own dubious impulses to β€œdo good” for the people of Vietnam.

Sixty years later, Charlene’s daughter, spurred by an encounter with an ageing Vietnam veteran, reaches out to Tricia. Together, they look back at their time in Saigon, discovering how their lives as women on the periphery β€” of politics, of history, of war, of their husbands’ convictions β€” have been shaped and burdened by the unintended consequences of America’s tragic interference in Southeast Asia.

Exploring the disaster of the Vietnam War through the lives built by American wives in 1960s Saigon, Absolution is a virtuosic novel about folly and grace, obligation, sacrifice and the quest for absolution in a broken world.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781526673602

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 31 October 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 135.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 368

Collections

Alice McDermott Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction

About the Author

Alice McDermott’s novels include Someone, The Ninth Hour, After This, Child of My Heart, Charming Billy, At Weddings and Wakes, That Night and A Bigamist’s Daughter. She won the National Book Award, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist three times and nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She lives with her family outside Washington DC.

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