"At once a lyrical, literary tour de force about loss and love, and a powerful page-turner, Edgar and Lucy is an elementally tender, Faulkner-esque novel told mostly through the wide-eyes of an unforgettable eight-year-old boy."
Lucy, Edgar and Florence are a fractured family dealing with the loss of Frank, a husband, a father and son whose body was never recovered. Lucy and Frank were both wild horses, with Edgar born into the throes of their frenetic relationship. Now he’s a drifting soul, an albino named after Edgar Allan Poe, stumbling through childhood under the protective eye of his grandmother, mystified by the behaviour of his hollowed mother, with her butcher boyfriend and perplexing remoteness. At once epic and intimate, and laced with affecting detail, this powerfully poetic work is suffused in acutely moving evocations of loss (“It was as if grief had impregnated her, the dark seed of it a living havoc in her belly”), and the satisfyingly complex story unwinds with un-put-down-able aplomb. I loved every perfectly-chosen, perfectly-placed word.
Eight-year-old Edgar Allan Fini is haunted - by his father's absence, his mother's secrets, and the ghosts of his grandmother's past. But he recalls nothing of the accident about which people still whisper. When Edgar meets a man with his own tragic story, he is drawn deep into a damaged, grief-stricken world. Lucy must confront the demons that plague her, to save her son and herself. Tinged with wonder and a dark fairytale heart, Edgar and Lucy is a gripping coming-of-age story about the painful and loving ties that bind us.
'I tore through the luminous pages of Edgar & Lucy as if possessed ... What this book has to say about love and truth will stay with me for a very, very long time' Sophie McManus, bestselling author of The Unfortunates. 'Wonder-filled, magisterial ... Pushes the boundaries of beauty' Chicago Tribune. 'I love this book. Profoundly spiritual and hilariously specific ... An unusual and intimate epic that manages to capture the wonder and terror of both child and parenthood with an uncanny clarity' Lena Dunham, bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl. 'On every page Lodato's prose sings with a robust, openhearted wit, making Edgar & Lucy a delight to read ... A riveting and exuberant ride' New York Times Book Review. 'Gorgeous. There is poetry on every page ... with delicate, precise observations and unexpected imagery' Sunday Times.
Author
About Victor Lodato
Victor Lodato is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships and has won numerous awards for his plays, including an award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. This is his first novel. He lives in Tuscon, Arizona and New York.
