Description

An epic, deeply moving novel about the power of love and loving with courage – from the Man Booker International Prize-winning author of A Horse Walks into a Bar

On a kibbutz in Israel in 2008, Gili is celebrating the ninetieth birthday of her grandmother Vera, the adored matriarch of a sprawling and tight-knit family. But festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Nina: the iron-willed daughter who rejected Vera’s care; and the absent mother who abandoned Gili when she was still a baby.

Nina’s return to the family after years of silence precipitates an epic journey from Israel to the desolate island of Goli Otok, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It was here, five decades earlier, that Vera was held and tortured as a political prisoner. And it is here that the three women will finally come to terms with the terrible moral dilemma that Vera faced, and that permanently altered the course of their lives.

More Than I Love My Life is a sweeping story about the power of love and loving with courage. A novel driven by faith in humanity even in our darkest moments, it asks us to confront our deepest held beliefs about a woman’s duty to herself and to her children.

‘Grossman’s work resonates with emotional intelligence, humanity and truth’ Irish Times

Publisher Review

More Than I Love My Life... is a profound testament to the emotional power of fiction and shows why some critics regard Grossman as a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. -- Max Liu * Financial Times * Immaculately translated by Jessica Cohen, this is another extraordinary novel from Grossman, a book as beautiful and sad as anything you'll read this year. -- Alex Preston * Observer * Unforgettable . . . This adds another remarkable achievement to Grossman's long list. * Publisher's Weekly *Starred Review* * In More Than I Love My Life he [Grossman] tells a sombre and affecting tale... [a] delicately crafted novel, crisply translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen. -- Houman Barekat * Sunday Times * [Grossman gives] vivid voice to each of the characters as they navigate their pain, both present and past... Grossman's 12 previous novels and five volumes of non-fiction have brought him renown on both sides of the Atlantic. This book will earn him more. * Economist *