Description

Amy Bloom’s Away revitalizes the American road-trip novel from the perspective of a vulnerable but spirited woman. It paints a vivid, earthy and surprising picture of 1920s America, its smells and textures, its population of drifters and con artists, pimps and prostitutes. Away is storytelling at its finest – epic in sweep, but intimate and psychologically acute, moving but unsentimental. Like the novels of Sarah Waters, it is both richly authentic in its period detail and fresh and contemporary in its style. But, above all, Bloom has created an unforgettable character in Lillian Leyb – her voice, haunted, damaged yet innocent, passionate, witty and unpretentious, is so believable and strong that her presence lingers long after the novel ends.

Publisher Review

A tender, funny and wise novel * Marie Claire * An urgent, riveting, fabulously entertaining road trip of a novel, Away grabs you by the throat from the first page to the last, breaks your heart and shakes all your senses awake — Emma Donoghue, author of THE REHEARSAL Proof that a thoroughly conventional novel can soar so long as the execution is extraordinary — Lionel Shriver * Guardian * Celebrate mother-love with Amy Bloom’s latest novel, Away * Vogue * Harrowing, intense and deeply moving, this is a story about surviving the worst nightmares that history bequeaths us. I had to keep reading, willing Lillian to win through, and hoping that the strengths of courage, humour and kindness would prevail. Even as my hopes were realised, I was subtly reminded that this is a world where nothing can ever be quite certain or secure — Margaret Elphinstone