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Incendiary

Chris Cleave author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Hodder & Stoughton

Published:13th Aug '09

Should be back in stock very soon

Incendiary cover

The extraordinary first novel from the author of THE OTHER HAND

You aren't stupid.
You know there's no such thing as a perfect mother.
Plenty of other books will tell you there is, but this one won't lie to you.

I was weak and I cheated and I was punished, but my god I loved my child through all of it.
Love means you never break, and it means you're stronger than the things they do to you. I know this is true because I have been through fire, and I am the proof that love survives.

I am not a perfect mother but I will tell you the perfect truth, because this is you and me talking.
This is my story.

Stunning... a haunting work of art. * Newsweek *
Chris Cleave has the ability to create moving and beautiful scenes within a terrifying backdrop. I couldn't put it down; it's subversive, thought-provoking and well-written. * Observer, Books of the Year *
Richly sardonic and often disarmingly poignant... How can one fail to be impressed and moved? * Guardian *
Cleave's heroine is by turns funny, sad, flawed, sympathetic, both damaged and indomitable, and triumphantly convincing. * Sunday Telegraph *
Stunning * New York Times AND International Herald Tribune AND Bookmarks Magazine *
This is a compulsive read, sure to stir the dust * CITY AM *
Searing.. poignant and compelling.. Utterly believable and mesmerizing * Newsday *
Dark, tense and undeniably provocative * Metro *
Hilariously sympathetic and convincing * San Francisco Chronicle *
Mesmerizing * Washington Post *

  • Winner of Somerset Maugham Awards 2006 (UK)
  • Winner of United States Book of the Month Club 2005 (UK)
  • Short-listed for Commonwealth Writers Prize 2006 (UK)

ISBN: 9780340998489

Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 23mm

Weight: 251g

352 pages