Small Mercies: A Novel

Small Mercies: A Novel

â€œAn intimate family portrait.â€
â€”The New York Times
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â€œEddie Joyceâ€™s terrific first novel is so American that the story might as well have taken place at the base of the Statue of Liberty.â€
â€”Richard Russo
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â€œAn inside look at one Staten Island familyâ€™s struggle with grief . . . [A] poignant, deeply affecting tale.â€Â
â€”Martha Stewart Living, a Book Club selection
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â€œ[A] terrific debut novel. . . . Joyce layers . . . different charactersâ€™ perspectives nimbly and skillfully, infusing his portrait of a messy, complicated, loving family with heartfelt emotion.â€
â€”Sara Vilkomerson,Â Entertainment Weekly, A-
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A startling and tender portrait of one familyâ€™s struggle to make peace with their sonâ€™s death

An ingeniously layered narrative, told over the course of one week, Eddie Joyceâ€™s debut novel masterfully depicts an Italian-Irish American family on Staten Island and their complicated emotional history. Ten years after the loss of Bobbyâ€”the Amendola familyâ€™s youngest sonâ€”everyone is still struggling to recover from the firefighterâ€™s unexpected death. Bobbyâ€™s mother, Gail; his widow, Tina; his older brothers Peter, the corporate lawyer, and Franky, the misfit; and his father, Michael, have all dealt with their grief in different ways. But as the family gathers together for Bobby Jr.â€™s birthday party, they must each find a way to accept a new man in Tinaâ€™s life while reconciling their feelings for their lost loved one.

In unflinching but lyrical prose, Joyce shows us one motherâ€™s struggle to keep her family together and preserve the memory of her son. Following Gail as she moves from the corner offices of white-shoe Manhattan law firms to the blue-collar gin mills of the outer boroughs, Small Mercies reveals a different New York, one that exists in the hearts and minds of its inhabitants.

Presented through multiple points of view, Small Mercies explores the conflicts and deep attachments that exist within families. Heart-wrenching and profoundly relatable, Joyceâ€™s debut is a love letter to Staten Island and a deeply affecting portrait of an American family.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Penguin Books
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2015-03-10
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Penguin Books
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2015-03-10
Format	Kindle eBook

Small Mercies: A Novel

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