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Knopf
May 2007
On Sale: May 1, 2007
240 pages
ISBN: 1400041902
EAN: 9781400041909
Hardcover
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Fiction
At the heart of this electrifying novel is a crime of unfathomable horror and its effect on several profoundly different lives, each altered by a surprising connection to the others. We hear four brilliantly realized voices: Helen, an inmate at Sloatsburg womenโs prison serving a life sentence for the murder of her children; trapped within the maze of her own tortured mind, she is the subject of damning national attention. Dr. Louise Forrest, the recently divorced mother of an eight-year-old boyโthe new chief of psychiatry at Sloatsburg. Angie, an ambitious Hollywood starlet, intent on nothing but fame. And Ike Bradshaw, a sardonic corrections officer, formerly a New York City narcotics detective. As the alternating narratives unfold, we begin to wonder why Dr. Forrest has chosen Sloatsburg over the Park Avenue practice for which she was trained. And the origin of Helenโs psychosis is revealedโboth its shocking depths and its disturbingly convincing rationaleโas well as why she is desperate to make herself known to the young actress Angie. The Big Girls is a powerful and audacious novel about the anarchy of families, the sometimes destructive power of the maternal instinct, the vitality and evil of communities, and the cult of celebrityโwritten in spare, evocative prose and with a bold understanding of the darkest, most hidden aspects of human nature.
 Media BuzzStudio 360 - May 26, 2007
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