Perfect: A Novel

Perfect: A Novel

Rachel Joyce

Language: English

Pages: 226

ISBN: 0812999002

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Byron Hemmings wakes to a morning that looks like any other: his school uniform draped over his wooden desk chair, his sister arguing over the breakfast cereal, the click of his mother’s heels as she crosses the kitchen. But when the three of them leave home, driving into a dense summer fog, the morning takes an unmistakable turn. In one terrible moment, something happens, something completely unexpected and at odds with life as Byron understands it. While his mother seems not to have noticed, for eleven-year-old Byron nothing can ever be the same. 
 
What happened and who is to blame? Over the days and weeks that follow, Byron’s perfect world is shattered. Unable to trust his parents, he confides in his best friend, James, and together they concoct a plan. . . .
 
As she did in her debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce has imagined bewitching characters who find their ordinary lives unexpectedly thrown into chaos, who learn that there are times when children must become parents to their parents, and who discover that in confronting the hard truths about their pasts, they will forge unexpected relationships that have profound and surprising impacts. Brimming with love, forgiveness, and redemption, Perfect will cement Rachel Joyce’s reputation as one of fiction’s brightest talents.

Advance praise for Perfect
 
“Out of the smallest, most delicate building blocks, Rachel Joyce gradually builds a towering sense of menace. She understands people, in all their intricacy and vulnerability, in a way few writers do. Perfect is a poignant and powerful book, rich with empathy and charged with beautiful, atmospheric writing.”—Tana French, bestselling author of In the Woods and Broken Harbor
 
Praise from the U.K.
 
“Readers who loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will not be disappointed.”The Sunday Times
 
“Joyce is no novice—she has done something more ambitious, darker and more honest [than The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry].”The Guardian
 
“A compelling novel about the crushing restrictions that class and gender can impose, the burden of parental expectation, and the stigma attached to mental illness . . . an affecting tale.”The Independent
 
“If only there were more novelists like Rachel Joyce. . . . Diana herself is faultless. She is to Perfect what Harold Fry was to Unlikely: a fully rounded hero, someone to fall in love with.”The Telegraph
 
“You will end up grinning dippily and recommending this wild, searching book to everyone you know.”The Times (London)
 
“[Perfect’s] unputdownable factor . . . lies in its exploration of so many multilayered emotions. There is the unbreakable bond between mother and son, the fear of not belonging, loneliness, grief, guilt, depression, loss, the destructive nature of mental illness and how love can offer redemption. Although Joyce made her name as a playwright and gives great dialogue, it is her descriptive powers that make the novel so vivid.”London Evening Standard

Billy Liar

The Princes in the Tower

The Conquering Family (The Pageant of England Series, Book 1)

Babel Tower

A Day in the Life: One Family, the Beautiful People, and the End of the Sixties

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because of the mist?’ Again, ‘I don’t know.’ She pulled at the handbrake. ‘I think the sun is up there somewhere,’ he said brightly. ‘It will burn this off soon.’ There were cars blocking the road as far as they could see; all the way into the veil of cloud. To their left the dull silhouette of a burnt-out vehicle marked the entrance to the Digby Road Estate. They never went that way. Byron saw his mother glance over. ‘We’re going to be late,’ wailed Lucy. Snapping down the handbrake, Diana.

Walt kept nodding at Diana. ‘Don’t you worry,’ he kept saying, and she kept saying, ‘Thank you, thank you.’ She was so glad everything was all right, she kept saying. Was the bicycle damaged? Was it a present? She mustn’t even think about that, said Walt. ‘Cheerio!’ called Beverley, waving from her front door. ‘See you again!’ It was the first time she looked happy. Driving from Digby Road, Byron felt a flush of excitement. His mother wound down the car windows so that they could feel the.

Mother.’ The words ran together. It was hard to understand, but Seymour kept stumbling through them. ‘When I was six he took me to a lake. He threw me in. Survivors swim, he said. I was afraid there were crocodiles. I still don’t like water.’ Byron remembered his father’s face when he heard about the accident with the bridge and Andrea Lowe’s complaint. The skin had turned so grey and stiff Byron had feared a whipping. As if reading his thoughts, Seymour said, ‘Maybe I overreacted. About the.

Favourites were two singles by Harry Nilsson and Donny Osmond. Byron stood at the drawing-room window and watched. Beverley’s movements were jerky and involved shaking her hair a lot, whereas Diana glided round the terrace as if she were carried on a current. When Diana offered to show her a step, they moved arm in arm, Diana’s neck held high, her arms poised on air, while Beverley studied her feet so that, even though they were the same height, Diana looked taller. He heard his mother offer to.

Is difficult, he realizes, to refer to such a list when the person you would like to interest is sitting right opposite. He wishes he had thought of that before. He wonders if this is a date or just something friendly. ‘So,’ says Eileen. She drums her fingers on the table. Jim says in a rush, ‘Please will you describe your house?’ He says, ‘Do you have a dog?’ He says, ‘What is your favourite food?’ He says, ‘What do you wish you could be?’ It is as if his mouth is charging on despite the rest.

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