About Perfect
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Random House (January 7, 2014)
A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.
Byron Hemmings wakes to a morning that looks like any other: his school uniform draped over his wooden desk chair, his sister arguing over the breakfast cereal, the click of his mother’s heels as she crosses the kitchen. But when the three of them leave home, driving into a dense summer fog, the morning takes an unmistakable turn. In one terrible moment, something happens, something completely unexpected and at odds with life as Byron understands it. While his mother seems not to have noticed, eleven-year-old Byron understands that from now on nothing can be the same.
What happened and who is to blame? Over the days and weeks that follow, Byron’s perfect world is shattered. Unable to trust his parents, he confides in his best friend, James, and together they concoct a plan. . . .
As she did in her debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce has imagined bewitching characters who find their ordinary lives unexpectedly thrown into chaos, who learn that there are times when children must become parents to their parents, and who discover that in confronting the hard truths about their pasts, they will forge unexpected relationships that have profound and surprising impacts. Brimming with love, forgiveness, and redemption, Perfect will cement Rachel Joyce’s reputation as one of fiction’s brightest talents.
Praise:
“Perfect is a poignant and powerful book, rich with empathy and charged with beautiful, atmospheric writing.”—Tana French, author of In the Woods and Broken Harbor
“[Rachel] Joyce, showing the same talent for adroit plot development seen in the bestselling The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, brings both narrative strands together in a shocking, redemptive denouement.”—Publishers Weekly
“[Perfect’s] unputdownable factor . . . lies in its exploration of so many multilayered emotions. There is the unbreakable bond between mother and son, the fear of not belonging . . . and how love can offer redemption.”—London Evening Standard
About Rachel Joyce
Rachel Joyce is the author of the international bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. She is also the award-winning writer of more than twenty plays for BBC Radio 4. She started writing after a twenty-year acting career, in which she performed leading roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and won multiple awards. Rachel Joyce lives with her family on a Gloucestershire farm.
Connect with Rachel on her website, racheljoycebooks.com, or on Facebook.
Rachel Joyce’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, December 16th: Great Imaginations
Tuesday, December 17th: She Treads Softly
Wednesday, December 18th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall
Thursday, December 19th: Lit and Life
Friday, December 20th: BookNAround
Monday, December 23rd: Bibliotica
Monday, December 23rd: Books Speak Volumes
Thursday, December 26th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]
Friday, December 27th: Peeking Between the Pages
Monday, December 30th: Sara’s Organized Chaos
Monday, January 6th: The Blog of Litwits
Monday, January 6th: Books and Movies
Tuesday, January 7th: The Scarlet Letter
Wednesday, January 8th: Snowdrop Dreams of Books
Thursday, January 9th: A Bookish Affair
Friday, January 10th: Peppermint Ph.D.
Tuesday, January 14th: Caribousmom
Wednesday, January 15th: A Novel Review
Thursday, January 16th: From the TBR Pile
Monday, January 20th: Bibliophiliac
Tuesday, January 21st: 5 Minutes for Books
Tuesday, January 21st: Books a la Mode
Wednesday, January 22nd: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Thursday, January 23rd: A Bookworm’s World
Friday, January 24th: My Bookshelf
Monday, January 27th: The Daily Mayo
Monday, January 27th: 50 Books Project
Tuesday, January 28th: Cold Read
Wednesday, January 29th: Not in Jersey