Bøger af Victoria Redel

In Victoria Redel's mesmerizing first novel, the question of what happens when a mother loves her child too much is deeply and darkly explored. Left with a small fortune by her parents and the cryptic advice, "it would do to find a passion," Redel's narrator sets out to become a mother--a task she feels she can be adequately passionate about. She conceives her son Paul through a loveless one-night stand, surrounds him with a wonderful, magical world for two--a world filled with books, music, endless games, and bottomless devotion--and calls him pet names like Birdie, Cookie, Puppy, and Loverboy. She wonders, "Has ever a mother loved a child more?" But as life outside their lace curtains begins to beckon the school-age Paul, his mother's efforts to keep him content in their small world become increasingly frantic and ultimately extreme by all definitions. In this exquisite debut novel, Victoria Redel takes us deep into the mind of a very singular mother, exposing the dangerously whisper-thin line between selfless and selfish motivation that exists in all types of devotion.

Before Everything is an ode to friendship for readers of Anne Tyler and Ann Patchett, full of dry humour, quiet wisdom and huge empathy.

What happens if a mother loves her child too much?Sybil and Marty, indifferent to their daughter in life, left her a small fortune and the cryptic advice, "It would do well to find a passion." In Victoria Redel's utterly mesmerizing new novel, we listen to the voice of this daughter as she willfully sets out to become a mother-- who is nothing if not passionate.She has named her son Paul, but calls him "Birdie," "Cookie," "Puppy," "Loverboy," as she creates a wonderful, magical world for two, a world filled with books, music, endless games, and bottomless devotion. "Has ever a mother loved a child more?" she wonders as they play spy on the strangers from behind their heavy, lace curtains. But as life outside begins to beckon to the boy, the mother's efforts to keep their small world confined become increasingly frantic and ultimately tragic.In this exquisite debut novel, Victoria Redel takes us deep into the mind of a very singular mother, and yet through her we see the dangerously whisper-thin line between selfless and selfish motivation that exists in all devotion. After all, "Who has ever wanted to share a love?"Victoria Redel has published a book of short fiction, Where the Road Bottoms Out, as well as a collection of poetry, Already the World. She currently teaches in the M.F.A. program at Vermont College and in the undergraduate and graduate writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College. She now lives in New York City.