Winner of the US National Book Critics Circle Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

'"Half my life ago, I killed a girl". You'll rarely get a better first line. What follows – Strauss's precise, honest and rigorous account of a fateful road accident and its harrowing aftermath – fulfils every hope aroused in the casual reader...a timely reminder that, from the Declaration of Independence to the best of Obama, American prose excels at saying a lot in a few words.' Robert McCrum, The Observer

“Half my life ago, I killed a girl”. 

So begins Darin Strauss’s Half a Life, the true story of how one outing in his father’s car resulted in the death of a classmate and the beginning of a different, darker life for the author.

The reader joins Strauss as he blurs through his startling past - collision, funeral and the queasy drama of a high-stakes court case.

What starts as the personal tale of a tragic event opens into the story of how one lives with a very hard fact: that we can try our human best in the crucial moment, but it might never be good enough.

Half a Life is a nakedly honest and painful, yet ultimately hopeful, examination of guilt, responsibility and accepting past actions written in Strauss’ beautiful yet stark and sharp prose. It is also the story of how a fiction writer examines, with sensitivity and humility, the painful source from which his novels evolve.

“Precise, elegantly written, fresh, wise, and very sad. Rich and meaningful, the care and thought that have gone into every line of Half a Life are indicative not only of a very talented writer, but of a proper human being.” – Nick Hornby

“A story of hope and what it means to be human.” – Carrie Fisher

“An unusually honest and thoughtful memoir. A searingly self-disciplined work of literature, and of self-examination. He examines with rigorous honesty every moment of the most awful and tragic event of his life. After all that admirable work and all that attentive detail, when he does finally reach a place of cautious hope, the impact is staggering and unforgettable.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

 “Elegant, painful, stunningly honest. What is truly exceptional here is watching a writer of fine fiction probe, directly, carefully and with great humility, the source from which his fiction springs.” – New York Times

“Lyrical and haunting. A remarkable story about pain and guilt, maturity and responsibility, hope and understanding.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“A penetrating, thought-provoking examination of the human mind and the bleak, meandering path down which catastrophe can send it.” – The Washington Post

“Painfully raw and beautifully written.” – LA Times

Darin Strauss is the best-selling author of the novels Chang & Eng, The Real McCoy and More Than It Hurts You. The recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction Writing and numerous other awards, Strauss has seen his work translated into 14 languages, and published in over 20 countries. Also a screenwriter – he has worked with Disney films, Julie Taymor, and, on the screen adaptation of Chang & Eng, Gary Oldman – he is a Clinical Associate Professor of Writing at New York University.

Praise for Darin Strauss:
“Strauss is a confident and stylish writer, capable of shrewd observation.” – The Guardian
 
“An exceptional first novel. A rare feat.” – Financial Times
 
“Strauss has taken the historical evidence and myths and turned them into something extraordinarily immediate with sympathy, imagination and sharp writing.” – The Times
 
“One of the most riskily imagined and successfully realized novels I’ve read in years.” – Joyce Carol Oates
 
“Rocks with twisted passion and a sly and powerful wit. Righteously deft and intelligent.” – James Ellroy

“As lyrical as he is daring.” – The New Yorker

Details

• ISBN: 9781907616075
• B-format hardback
• 210 pages
• Price £15.99

•  

Rights

UK only