My Absolute Darling

Gabriel Tallent was born in New Mexico and raised on the Mendocino coast by two mothers. He received his B.A. from Willamette University in 2010, and after graduation spent two seasons leading youth trail crews in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. Tallent lives in Salt Lake City.

‘There are books we like well enough to recommend, but there are a very few – To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22, The Things They Carried – that we remember forever. To my own shortlist I can now add My Absolute Darling, by Gabriel Tallent … The word “masterpiece” has been cheapened by too many blurbs, but My Absolute Darling absolutely is one’ Stephen King‘If you liked Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, you’ll love this’ Daily Mail‘A powerful tale with a howitzer of a heroine and a plethora of extraordinary scenes’ TLS‘A heartrending debut that will shock, then shake, then inspire you’ Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You‘An outstanding book that could be this year’s A Little Life’ Guardian‘My Absolute Darling is an absolute triumph’ National‘The writing is beautiful and vivid, while the story is brilliantly urgent, brutal and uncompromising’ Claire Fuller, author of Our Endless Numbered Days‘Tallent’s breathtaking debut is a harrowing and at times psychologically difficult journey on the scale of A Little Life or The Goldfinch, but it’s worth it . . . a true inspiration’ Harper’s Bazaar‘Once a year – certainly no more – along comes a special novel that turns its readers into literary holy rollers. A couple of years ago it was Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life. Before that Ferrante fever. This year, I suspect it will be My Absolute Darling’ The Times‘This is a compelling and unsettling novel that sucks you into its darkly warped world and doesn’t let go until the last page … powerful, violent, savage and quite brilliant’ Daily Express‘A gut wrenching, terrifying novel written so beautifully it sings off the page’ Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat‘This is a bloody, brutal tale, but also an incredibly beautiful one’ Emerald Street