The Almost Moon Book

'When all is said and done killing my mother came easily.' For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother to her enigmatic father to her husband and now-grown daughters. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined. Unfolding over twenty-four hours this searing novel explores the ties between mothers and daughters wives and lovers the meaning of devotion and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging moving gripping story written with the humanity and fluidity that only Alice Sebold can bring to the page. ; ; `Perhaps you're tired of reading that this or that novel is 'startling'. Well too bad. Alice Sebold's new novel really IS startling; I don't believe that I properly closed my mouth the entire time I was reading it. While plenty of novels pose as transgressive (you sense the author tiresomely trying to shock like a child showing you her knickers) The Almost Moon's abandon tastes salty and authentic. The suburban horrors she recounts start to take on a freewheeling quality: macabre but sort of funny too. It's a strange wild even hysterical book: visceral black and unguarded. My God it grips. Even with the worst jet lag in the world I lay half awake half the night feverishly hoping both that it would never end and that it would all be over soon. Rachel Cooke Evening Standard ; ; ; ; `Electrifying' A shocking touching account of a mother/daughter relationship. ; ; Woman & Home ; ; ; `Sebold's unflinching look at love and responsibility will stay with you. - 5 Star Review in Marie Claire ; ; ; `Helen Knightly a woman who crosses a line and finds her life changed forever - Sebold explores the ramifications of her decision in a novel set over a single day bringing to her story a whole host of emotions and moral complexity. - 5 Star Review in Red ; ; ; ; `It shines a spotlight on the pressures of shouldering emotional responsibility for children partners and parents. - Good Housekeeping ; ; ; ; `A shocking yet touching account of a mother/daughter relationship.- Woman & Home ; ; ; ; `A serious heartstring tugger exploring the troubled mind of someone who's been driven to the edge. - In Style ; ; ; `The best bit is you don't find out until the very last line. Well what else would you expect from the author of The Lovely Bones' - New Woman ; ; `Sebold writes brilliantly about the dangers of a narcissistic and victimised identity; about murderous self-pity and its overweening sense of entitlement. Helen Knightley is a character who makes the spine creep and The Almost Moon is a mature salutary and timely novel.' ; ; The Times Books ; ; ; `A cracker' Boy does she know how to tell a story. Devote a full day to this sad and exhilarating novel: really you won't be able to leave it alone. - Metro ; ; `This is a powerful intricate and beautifully written novel. It more than lives up to the publisher's description of it as a "challenging moving gripping story written with humanity and fluidity " And while the ending is undramatic it's all the better for that. Without giving it away I can say that Helen doesn't die in a blaze of gunfire from a police SWAT team or in a car wreck after being chased for miles across the countryside by state troopers. Alice Sebold is far too serious a writer for that kind of nonsense. ; The Almost Moon is a story of real people in extremis beautifully told by an accomplished writer. It is a worthy successor to Sebold's bestseller The Lovely Bones. It makes for an absorbing if painful read. - Sunday Herald ; ; ;Read More