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Liars and Saints
Maile Meloy
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Description for Liars and Saints
Paperback. Shortlisted for the Orange Prize - this wonderful debut novel about family secrets is a perfect book for the summer Num Pages: 272 pages, n/a. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 130 x 17. Weight in Grams: 190. Clean copy
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction
'Wise, witty, and beautifully written, Liars and Saints is that rare and wondrous thing: a literary novel you don't want to put down' Helen Fielding
Liars and Saints is an utterly compelling portrait of a family, the twists and turns of their lives unravelled with sensitivity and understanding. By turns laugh aloud funny and unbearably moving, this is a story that lasts beyond its final pages.
Set in California, the narrative follows four generations of the Santerre family from World War II to the present, as they navigate a succession ... Read moreof life-changing events. With wonderful characters and a strong emotional heart, Liars and Saints has a huge potential market in paperback.
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Product Details
Place of Publication
, United Kingdom
Shipping Time
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About Maile Meloy
Maile Meloy lives in California. On publication in the US, Liars and Saints drew acclaim from readers and reviewers across the country. This is Maile Meloy's first novel. Her second novel, A FAMILY DAUGHTER, was published in February 2006, and her collection of short stories, HALF IN LOVE, in March 2005, both by John Murray.
Reviews for Liars and Saints
This remarkably assured debut novel ... succeeds in being both intimate in feel and broad in outlook ... moving, compassionate and amusing
Daily Mail
Meloy has written an exquisite novel about the power of secrets
and the redemption found in religion and love
Glamour
A tale worthy of the Greeks ... While there is plenty ... Read moreof feeling its pages, none of it crystallises into sentimentality ... spare, sturdy prose
Observer
Maile Meloy writes with both fearlessness and true compassion
Ann Patchett
A beautifully written story about ordinary American life that's anything but ordinary
Company Magazine
Wise, witty, and beautifully written, Liars and Saints is that rare and wondrous thing: a literary novel you don't want to put down
Helen Fielding
A spectacular first novel
New York Times
Most multi-generational sagas are dull forays into sentimentalism, but in the aptly titled Liars and Saints, Meloy has written a corker
Amazon.com
An irresistable tale that will stay with you long after your tan has faded
Mail on Sunday
Quiet, unastonished precision ... an impressive achievement
Philip Roth
All the outrageous twists ... of a soap opera. But Meloy writes with such delicate insight that somehow you believe in it, even as you race to the last page.
Marie Claire
The best of the bunch ... a fine book
The Scotsman
For a first-time novelist, she is astonishingly poised, moving through a large cast and a long chronology with a light, assured touch ... sharp and vivid detail
Lindesay Irvine, Press Association
Sparse, gentle prose ... a lovely debut, treading a delicate balance between epic family saga and minutely observed literary portrait
Spectator
Meloy gives her story shape and depth by writing from each character's point of view ... there is something refreshingly conservative about the design of this novel
Independent
It's funny and moving and looks likely to appeal to the thousands of readers who read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
Radio Times
Packed from start to finish, this is an excellent debut novel from Meloy and a real pleasure to read
Lucky Break magazine
It makes you think long after you've finished it ... it's earned fantastic reviews and is worth a read
Woman
The novel's success lies in Meloy's emotional literacy. There is an unflashy intelligence underpinning her writing ... which makes her ordinary, flawed characters breathe. Lies and their consequences propel the plot convincingly ... In its examination of the gap between faith and free will, Meloy has written a compelling debut about the search for truth.
Literary Review
An absolute delight ... an unfussy and unshowy narrative ... effortlessly charming and engaging the reader without relentlessly flaggging up the skill involved ... a fresh and welcoming perspective on the aspirations and disappointments of the post-war generation ... a powerful love-letter to family bonds, ably illustrating the insidious nature of a Catholic upbringing
Zembla magazine
Certain to be a huge hit ... This touching narrative speaks of love and tragedy, nagging guilt and prejudice, which is sensitively dealt with by this talented novelist
Devon Today
Moving, sometimes funny, sensitively told, it is a mini-epic demonstrating the scope of tragedy in the absence of truth
Oxford Times
This remarkably assured debut novel ... succeeds in being both intimate in feel and broad in outlook, without becoming dragged down by detail. ... Meloy lets the story move forward with such fluidity that, despite the brisk pace and sudden switches of perspective, there is no lessening of impact. In turns moving, compassionate and amusing, it creates an emotional resonance that lasts long after the last page.
Daily Mail
A tale worthy of the Greeks ... By the novel's close, Meloy's gallop through births, marriages and deaths leaves even her panting, but this choppy structure is what makes Liars and Saints interesting. While there is plenty of feeling its pages, none of it crystallises into sentimentality, forcing the reader to take the long view, even as her spare, sturdy prose springs sadness and heartbreak upon us.
Observer
The quiet, unastonished precision with which Maile Meloy depicts the extent to which everything now goes haywire in so-called ordinary American life is an impressive achievement, literary and otherwise
Philip Roth
Meloy, with her sparse, gentle prose, takes her tale very seriously indeed ... she is a keen observer of human emotion, but here she diffuses any potential melodrama ... a lovely debut, treading a delicate balance between epic family saga and minutely observed literary portrait.
Spectator
There is plenty to praise in this sparingly rendered, relentlessly plotted rendition of Catholic family life ... it has a narrative which is swift and supple enough to unfold fifty years of disappointed expectations without recourse to sentiment ... Understatement is one of her greatest assets; it gives her narrative an authority which neither the brisk elision of years nor the obscure motives of her characters can undermine ... deftly written and insightful ... thoroughly readable ... impeccably plausible
Times Literary Supplement
A constantly entertaining American family saga.
Red Magazine
If Liars and Saints doesn't win, then there's no justice in the world!
Optima
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