Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Kirkus Reviews, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Oprah Daily, Real Simple, and Vogue
A riveting account of women’s lives on the margins of the Vietnam War, from the renowned winner of the National Book Award.
You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives.
American women—American wives—have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War, but in Absolution they take center stage. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney on loan to navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. In Saigon in 1963, the two women form a wary alliance as they balance the era’s mandate to be “helpmeets” to their ambitious husbands with their own inchoate impulse to “do good” for the people of Vietnam.
Sixty years later, Charlene’s daughter, spurred by an encounter with an aging Vietnam vet, reaches out to Tricia. Together, they look back at their time in Saigon, taking wry account of that pivotal year and of Charlene’s altruistic machinations, and discovering how their own lives as women on the periphery—of politics, of history, of war, of their husbands’ convictions—have been shaped and burdened by the same sort of unintended consequences that followed America’s tragic interference in Southeast Asia.
A virtuosic new novel from Alice McDermott, one of our most observant, most affecting writers, about folly and grace, obligation, sacrifice, and, finally, the quest for absolution in a broken world.
Alice McDermott is the author of eight previous novels, all published by FSG, including Charming Billy, winner of the National Book Award, and That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This, which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of the essay collection What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and other publications. She lives outside Washington, D.C. Alice McDermott is the author of nine novels, all published by FSG, including Charming Billy, winner of the National Book Award, and That Night, At Weddings and Wakes, and After This, which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of the essay collection What About the Baby?: Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and other publications. She lives outside Washington, DC.
Hometown:
Bethesda, Maryland
Date of Birth:
June 27, 1953
Place of Birth:
Brooklyn, New York
Education:
B.A., State University of New York-Oswego, 1975; M.A., University of New Hampshire, 1978
“It does come down to that moment, when as a reader or as a writer entering into a story we say — it’s not about me, it’s about you.” That’s Alice McDermott speaking to her newest novel (and our November B&N Book Club pick) on our Poured Over podcast, which you can stream here. It’s […]
It’s the holiday season, so it’s probably cold out wherever you are, and that means you’re ready to hunker down with just the right book and read your way to tomorrow. We’re here to help. We’re featuring one title a day between now and December 24, ensuring that you stay stocked on good reads, never […]
“It does come down to that moment, when as a reader or as a writer entering into a story we say — it’s not about me, it’s about you.” Alice McDermott’s Absolution shines a light on the dynamic lives of American women as they navigate the tumultuous era of the Vietnam War. McDermott joins us […]
We love talking about books and writing (and more) with authors and B&N Book Club members at our monthly Virtual Book Club discussion events. You can watch past events here on B&N’s YouTube channel and follow our national Eventbrite for event announcements and free registration. Some of our stores host in-person book club discussion events, […]
