Cost

Roxana Robinson is the author of three novels and three short-story collections. Four of her works have been named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine and Vogue, among other publications.

'"Cost" is both lyrical and unsentimental, richly honest and humane ! reading of uncommon stature.' Wall Street Journal 'Scarily good ... what gives the story such emotional depth is Robinson's astute portrayal of the private anxieties that each family member harbors. [Robinson] has crept into corners of human experience each of us is terrified to approach.' Washington Post 'Robinson has always been a sensitive and revelatory writer, but she attains new degrees of intensity here in her scorching depictions of the nightmare world of addiction. Her illuminations of the churning inner lives of her smart and deep feeling characters depict good people facing brutal forces beyond the reach of reason or love.' Booklist (starred review) 'A novelist drawn to the emotional dynamics inside families, Robinson here depicts the crisis unleashed by one parent's discovery of her child's self-destructive secret.' Good Housekeeping 'Artfully portrays a family transformed by the far-reaching consequences of a son's heroin addiction.' Vanity Fair 'Gripping ... Robinson paints a chilling portrait of addiction. We can't always save each other, but there's a kind of redemption in the fight.' People PRAISE FOR ROXANA ROBINSON 'Start in on any sentence and I'm absolutely sure you'll read to the end of the story, and of the book, and you'll come out of it feeling grateful, deeply stirred, seriously happy' Alice Munro 'Elegantly written yet emotionally raw ! [with] the urgency of an unputdownable thriller' Washington Post 'Robinson's finely tuned realism, as well as her settings and characters recall Cheever and Updike. She approaches the huge misunderstandings of family life from many angles and anything but timidly. Her ear is wonderful, her graceful prose a real pleasure' Publisher's Weekly (starred review)