Fabulous Fiction Firsts #153

Fri, 03/13/2009 - 7:36pm by muffy

Once in awhile a novel comes along and it is so lovely, it takes your breath away.

Patrick Somerville's The Cradle is a tiny little gem of a debut - spare, elegant, and so satisfying.

In the summer of 1997, newlyweds Marissa and Matt are expecting their first child. Marissa longs for the antique cradle she slept in - the one her mother Caroline took from the family home when she ran off. Matt is determined to track it down. His journey takes him across the Midwest and to the discovery that will forever change Marissa's life.

Matt's quest is interwoven with a second narrative that takes place 11 years later, in which poet and children's author Renee Owen is preparing to send her son off to fight in Iraq.

Radiating with wisdom and wonder, The Cradle is the story of one man's journey into the heart of marriage, parenthood, and what it means to be a family.

Patrick Somerville (biography) is a writer to watch.