Keynote
"Victoria Redel's contribution to the literature of obsession is rendered with unusual delicacy and daring."—Amy Hempel
Book Title
Loverboy
Cover Image
Body
What happens if a mother loves her child too much?
Sybil and Marty, indifferent to their daughter in life, left her a small fortune and the cryptic advice, "It would do well to find a passion." In Victoria Redel's utterly mesmerizing new novel, we listen to the voice of this daughter as she willfully sets out to become a mother—who is nothing if not passionate.
She has named her son Paul, but calls him "Birdie," "Cookie," "Puppy," "Loverboy," as she creates a wonderful, magical world for two, a world filled with books, music, endless games, and bottomless devotion. "Has ever a mother loved a child more?" she wonders as they play spy on the strangers from behind their heavy, lace curtains. But as life outside begins to beckon to the boy, the mother's efforts to keep their small world confined become increasingly frantic and ultimately tragic.
In this exquisite debut novel, Victoria Redel takes us deep into the mind of a very singular mother, and yet through her we see the dangerously whisper-thin line between selfless and selfish motivation that exists in all devotion. After all, "Who has ever wanted to share a love?"
Sybil and Marty, indifferent to their daughter in life, left her a small fortune and the cryptic advice, "It would do well to find a passion." In Victoria Redel's utterly mesmerizing new novel, we listen to the voice of this daughter as she willfully sets out to become a mother—who is nothing if not passionate.
She has named her son Paul, but calls him "Birdie," "Cookie," "Puppy," "Loverboy," as she creates a wonderful, magical world for two, a world filled with books, music, endless games, and bottomless devotion. "Has ever a mother loved a child more?" she wonders as they play spy on the strangers from behind their heavy, lace curtains. But as life outside begins to beckon to the boy, the mother's efforts to keep their small world confined become increasingly frantic and ultimately tragic.
In this exquisite debut novel, Victoria Redel takes us deep into the mind of a very singular mother, and yet through her we see the dangerously whisper-thin line between selfless and selfish motivation that exists in all devotion. After all, "Who has ever wanted to share a love?"
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About the Author
Credit: Bill Hayward
Praise
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
This book is made possible through a partnership with the College of St. Benedict, in honor of the legacy of S. Mariella Gable, a distinguished teacher at the College, and by the generosity of Graywolf Press donors like you.
