Liz Nugent’s new work of fiction follows three working class Irish brothers and delves into the many ways families can wreak emotional havoc across generations.
All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral.
Only one of us was in the coffin.
William, Brian, and Luke: three boys bound by blood but split by fate, trained from birth by their wily mother to compete for her attention. They play games, as brothers do…yet even after the Drumms escape into the world beyond their windows, those games—those little cruelties—grow more sinister, more merciless, more dangerous. And with their lives entwined like the strands of a noose, only two of the brothers will survive.
Crisply written and quickly paced, perfect for readers of both sophisticated literary fiction and breathtaking suspense, Little Cruelties gazes unflinchingly into the darkness: the darkness collecting in the corners of childhood homes, hiding beneath marriage beds, clasped in the palms of two brothers shaking hands. And it confirms Liz Nugent, whose novels have been celebrated as “captivating” (People) and “highly entertaining” (The Washington Post), as one of the most exciting, perceptive voices in contemporary fiction.
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“Nugent once again provides a dark, dramatic story—this one enhanced by an ensemble of highly skilled narrators…Each brother is effectively voiced by a different narrator, all with soft Irish accents. Toward the end, Mary-Lou McCarthy poignantly portrays Daisy, the next generation of Drumms. While listeners will have to pay careful attention as the story weaves between the boys’ childhood and the present, and from one brother to another, they will find an engaging experience with plenty of surprises.”
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