Bøger af Suzanne Berne

From the Orange Prize­–winning author of A Crime in the Neighborhood comes a “sharply witty” and “impeccably written” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) novel featuring a therapist attempting to unlock the most difficult cases of her life—those of her son and of her mother. Anyone who’s ever had trouble persuading a teenager or an elderly parent to “open up” will recognize Lorna’s dilemma during the three days she finds herself alone in a remote lakeside cottage with her mutely miserable son and her impenetrable mother. Despite her training as a clinical social worker, and her arsenal of therapeutic techniques, she’s resisted at every turn as she tries to understand what’s made the two people most important to her go silent. Though silence has always marked Lorna’s family. Her father was deaf. Her mother, Marika, abandoned Lorna and her brother when they were children. No explanation was ever offered. Nor why Marika resurfaced eighteen years ago to invite Lorna and her infant son, Adam, to Vermont for a strained reunion. A relationship, of sorts, has followed—an annual Thanksgiving visit, during which Marika sits taciturnly among the guests at Lorna’s table, agreeing only to “be seen to exist.” But now it’s Adam who won’t talk. Home from college and suffering over something he won’t disclose, he’s so depressed that he refers to himself as “A” for “Anti-Matter.” So, when she’s summoned to Vermont because Marika has had a fall, Lorna sees an opportunity to get Adam out of the house and maybe also a chance to finally connect with her mother. What she never anticipated was that grandson and grandmother would form a bond, and leave her out of it. How do you care for people you can’t understand, and who don’t want to be understood? Suspenseful, poignantly funny, and beautifully incisive, The Blue Window explores the ways people misperceive each other, and how secrets and silence, wielded and guarded, exert their power over families—and what luminous, frightening, and tender possibilities might come forth, once those secrets are challenged. “Suzanne Berne is an elegant, psychologically astute novelist” (Tom Perrotta), whose new book reveals what happens to people who hide from themselves, and the act of imagination it takes to find them.

"Silence has always marked Lorna's family. Her father was deaf. Her mother, Marika, helped rescue children as a teenage member of the Dutch Resistance, yet later abandoned her own young son and daughter. No explanation was ever offered. Nor why she resurfaced decades afterward to invite Lorna--by then a married social worker with a baby--to visit her remote cottage on Lake Champlain. For the past eighteen years, Lorna has struggled to make taciturn, difficult Marika part of the family, if only so her son, Adam, could have a grandmother. But now it's Adam who's turned silent."--Provided by publisher.

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2014'Both devastating and funny in its well-chosen detail . . . Highly recommended' Daily Mail'As astute in her observations of contemporary culture as she is in capturing the minutiae of longing, disappointment and loss' Sunday TimesLittlefield, Massachusetts, named one of the Ten Best Places to Live in America, full of psychologists and college professors, is proud of its fine schools, its girls' soccer teams, its leafy streets and quaint village centre.Yet no sooner has sociologist Dr Clarice Watkins arrived in Littlefield to study the elements of 'good quality of life' than someone begins poisoning the town's dogs. Are the poisonings in protest to an off-leash proposal for Baldwin Park - the subject of much town debate - or the sign of a far deeper disorder?The Dogs of Littlefield is a wry exploration of the discontent concealed behind the manicured lawns and picket fences of darkest suburbia.'Berne takes the domestic and turns it into the majestic' Sunday Telegraph'This funny novel explores the flaws of a perfect neighbourhood with a bizarre killer on the loose' PsychologiesSuzanne Berne's first novel, A Crime in the Neighbourhood, won the 1999 Orange Prize. She is also the author of A Perfect Arrangement, The Ghost at the Table and Missing Lucile. Suzanne Berne lives with her husband and two daughters near Boston.

'Families are toxic...' Thanksgiving, New England, and writer Cynthia has been persuaded by elder sister Frances to come and visit for the autumn holiday. Cynthia is reluctant to join in this family reunion because she'd rather not see their long-estranged father. Yet Frances is adamant that they must all meet to clear the air - poisoned ever since their mother died when they were children. But Cynthia has her own ideas about how to use this family occasion. It's time to lift the lid on some unwelcome home truths about what happened all those years ago. And this time her daddy's feelings are not to be spared ...

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION'This ambitious account of a sudden coming of age reminded me strongly of To Kill a Mockingbird - and is every bit as moving and satisfying' Daily TelegraphIn the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten-year-old Marsha's life: her father ran away with her mother's sister; a young boy called Boyd Ellison was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines. Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to 'the book of evidence' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha's confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her 'facts' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood.'It is impossible not to be completely swept along. Berne's vision is gently humorous, ironic, quirky, and she writes with such piercing sensitivity . . . a compelling debut novel' The Times 'Intensely evocative. I loved it' Observer'The writing is marvellous . . . comparisons have been made between her and Anne Tyler and Harper Lee. Same ball-park, delightfully different voice' Mail on Sunday