
The Hero of This Book
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Elizabeth McCracken
A Most Anticipated Book of Fall from: Los Angeles Times * Boston Globe * BookPage * Book Riot * The Millions * Publishers Weekly * LitHub * St. Louis Post Dispatch * Town & Country
A taut, groundbreaking new novel from bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken, about a writer’s relationship with her larger-than-life mother—and about the very nature of writing, memory, and art
Ten months after her mother’s death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother’s, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother’s life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in New England, the family home is now up for sale, its considerable contents already winnowed.
The woman, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary—her brilliant wit, her generosity, her unbelievable obstinacy, her sheer will in seizing life despite physical difficulties—and finds herself wondering how her mother had endured. Even though she wants to respect her mother’s nearly pathological sense of privacy, the woman must come to terms with whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal.
The Hero of This Book is a searing examination of grief and renewal, and of a deeply felt relationship between a child and her parents. What begins as a question of filial devotion ultimately becomes a lesson in what it means to write. At once comic and heartbreaking, with prose that delights at every turn, this is a novel of such piercing love and tenderness that we are reminded that art is what remains when all else falls away.
©2022 Elizabeth McCracken (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...




















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Needs a professional narrator
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Having now read the book on the printed page and listened to the author narrate such a brilliantly conceived whatever it is, I’m convinced there is no better master of well-mannered brutality.
Hell of a book. Highly recommend.
The narrator of this review is not the author
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From an Admirer of An Exact Replica...
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A Wonder
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Just lovely + perfect in the author's own voice
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Tribute to a Mother
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Biased by catharsis
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I am sitting here with many tears running down my face as I finished this book. The hero of this book is so, so much like my own hero, down to some of the same eccentricities and joy they imbued. My own mother uttered a version of “that’s one of my talents” on many occasions.
My affection for this book is deeply personal because of the mirrored images. Not the same, but similar.
There’s no other relationship like the mother/daughter dynamic, and there are many stories written and published painting the picture of so many of this dynamic. Not all are meant for everyone, but this one in particular was absolutely meant for me.
Thank you, Elizabeth. But also, how dare you! I can’t stop crying.
Walking together with Elizabeth in this grief
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Surprising
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Truth
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