The Big Girls

By Moore, Susanna

Publishers Summary:
At the heart of this electrifying novel is a crime of unfathomable horror and its effect on several profoundly different lives, each altered by a surprising connection to the others.We hear four brilliantly realized voices: Helen, an inmate at Sloatsburg women’s prison serving a life sentence for the murder of her children; trapped within the maze of her own tortured mind, she is the subject of damning national attention. Dr. Louise Forrest, the recently divorced mother of an eight-year-old boy—the new chief of psychiatry at Sloatsburg. Angie, an ambitious Hollywood starlet, intent on nothing but fame. And Ike Bradshaw, a sardonic corrections officer, formerly a New York City narcotics detective.As the alternating narratives unfold, we begin to wonder why Dr. Forrest has chosen Sloatsburg over the Park Avenue practice for which she was trained. And the origin of Helen’s psychosis is revealed—both its shocking depths and its disturbingly convincing rationale—as well as why she is desperate to make herself known to the young actress Angie. The Big Girls is a powerful and audacious novel about the anarchy of families, the sometimes destructive power of the maternal instinct, the vitality and evil of communities, and the cult of celebrity—written in spare, evocative prose and with a bold understanding of the darkest, most hidden aspects of human nature.

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ISBN
978-1-40004-190-9
Publisher
Knopf


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on April 15, 2007

Moore (In the Cut ) returns to fiction with a disturbing tale that's sure to inspire heated book-group discussions nationwide. Four narrators, each connected in some way to the Sloatsburg women's prison, take turns explaining their circumstances and exploring their options as they struggle to make sense of their actions. The most compelling of these narrators are Helen, who has murdered her children (supposedly at Go...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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