Forty years ago, VC Andrews’ novel about incest, rape and murder-by-doughnut was declared ‘deranged swill’, but new books under her name still sell. Why?Forty years ago this month, Flowers in the Attic, the debut novel of one VC Andrews was published. A review in the Washington Post didn’t mince its words, describing it as “deranged swill” that “may well be the worst book I have ever read”.The plot is nothing if not deranged – but even 40 years later, utterly compelling. Cathy and Chris Dollanganger and their little brother and sister, Cory and Carrie, are beautiful, blond-haired and as happy as can be until their handsome father dies. Their destitute mother tells them that in order to regain the fortune from which she has been disinherited, they must hide in their grandparents’ vast attic for a few days so she can persuade their grandfather to reinstate her as his heir.The most terrible things about my childhood probably were those that I created in my mind Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-11-14 14:02:15 UTC ]
Canadian author Nita Prose's debut novel The Maid became a New York Times and Canadian bestseller just a few weeks after its release on January 4. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2022-02-16 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Coco Mellors' 'Cleopatra and Frankenstein' evokes a rich universe in multiple senses, but it feels engineered for a Netflix adaptation. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-04 14:00:54 UTC ]
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Early in Julia May Jonas’s searing debut novel Vladimir, the unnamed narrator, an “oldish white woman in her late fifties (the identity I am burdened with publicly presenting, to my general embarrassment)” finds herself in the last place anyone wants to be—a faculty meeting of a small New... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-02 09:50:43 UTC ]
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Julia May Jonas' "Vladimir" is a thrilling "Lolita" update in which the deliciously wicked narrator is not the male abuser but his wife. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-02-01 14:00:41 UTC ]
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Brendan Slocumb’s debut novel is a musical bildungsroman cleverly contained within a literary thriller. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-02-01 10:00:07 UTC ]
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I have always held a keen interest toward the processes of myth formation and how beliefs about family identity are handed down through generations. My debut novel Defenestrate tells the story of a family in the midst of reckoning with superstition and inheritance, the long-held beliefs that can... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-01-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Europa Editions UK has acquired Esther Yi's "incredible" debut novel Y/N in a two book pre-empt. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-19 12:54:14 UTC ]
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Andrew Lipstein’s entertaining debut novel mines comedy from an aspiring author’s ethically questionable path to publication. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-19 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Atlantic Books has acquired Camilla Grudova's Children of Paradise, a "stunning" debut novel exploring the lives of cinema workers and sex. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-19 06:20:25 UTC ]
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At Electric Literature, Diane Cooke speaks to Jessamine Chan about The School for Good Mothers, Chan’s incisive debut novel that revolves around how a young mother’s error lands her in a government reform program and at risk of losing custody of her child. They discuss one of Chan’s main... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-01-18 21:30:56 UTC ]
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Allison & Busby has netted an "explosive" debut novel by former police officer Graham Bartlett. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-16 13:20:55 UTC ]
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Jessamine Chan’s “The School for Good Mothers” takes up themes of autonomy and technology in imagining an experimental facility where parents go through mandatory retraining. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-11 17:33:33 UTC ]
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Fig Tree has scooped the "powerful and beautifully humane" debut novel by Mo Siewcharran Prize-winner Santanu Bhattacharya. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-05 14:00:25 UTC ]
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Sequioa Nagamatsu discusses his much-awaited debut novel about people living in a future beset by the Arctic Plague. The post Sequoia Nagamatsu’s Dystopian Debut Is a Must-Read for the New Year appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-01-04 21:00:24 UTC ]
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In “Brown Girls,” Daphne Palasi Andreades breaks a big world into small, meaningful pieces. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-01-04 10:00:03 UTC ]
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Dolly Parton will headline the audiobook cast of her debut novel Run Rose Run (Century) along with singer and songwriter Kelsea Ballerini in the role of protégée to Parton’s character. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-21 02:34:41 UTC ]
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Juhea Kim's "Beasts of a Little Land" captures the dualities of Korean history but ties up symbols too tightly in the service of grand ambitions. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-12-14 15:00:20 UTC ]
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Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Sarah Thankam Mathews’ debut novel All This Could Be Different, which will be published by Viking—who acquired it in an 8-way auction—in summer 2022. The publisher describes the book as “an electrifying novel of a young immigrant building a life... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-03 15:00:16 UTC ]
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A debut novel by a HarperCollins UK editor goes to Putnam, former Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III sells a memoir to Atria, Random House buys NBA winner Tiya Miles’s latest, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-12-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The translation of Deceit by ‘groundbreaking’ author Yuri Felsen, who died in Auschwitz in 1943, is set to come out next MayThe debut novel by Yuri Felsen, an author once regarded as the “Russian Proust” whose work has been forgotten since he died in Auschwitz in 1943, is set to be published in... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-12-01 14:12:48 UTC ]
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