As an only child, my fascination with large families in fiction stretches back to the Marches, the Moffats and the All-of-a-Kinds. More recently, Jennifer Close's The Smart One and Jami Attenberg's The Middlesteins catapulted me into chaotic family-soaked gatherings (the latter was one of my favourite reads in 2013). Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group,
How fully can an author inhabit an addict's world and still spin a story coherent enough to engage the teen reader? Margaret K. McElderry Books(Simon & Schuster Books), 2004 In the 1970's, kids might have turned to the anonymously penned Go Ask Alice (1971), which was billed as
This is from Gabriel's neighbour, Giuditta. "One day Gabriel opened up more than usual and told me he had four sons. From four different women. In four different countries." The reader wonders if perhaps he opened up more to her than to anyone; Gabriel is a cipher, someone the reader knows
Perhaps it's only to give readers an idea of how special it all was to Charlie. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the writing of a man's life at least gives you an idea of just how special it all was to him the first time around."
** Below, there's an opportunity to win your own copy of A Complicated Marriage ** [Edit: Now complete.] The sound of high heels clicking. The spill of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker's music. A paisley-draped foam couch. Smoking a Pall Mall. Drinking a gin and tonic. A handkerchief kitchen.
