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Bestselling author Liz Nugent explores the dark secrets of a celebrity family and the truth behind the stars.
This story begins with a funeral. One of three brothers is dead, mourned by his siblings. But which one? And how? And, most critically: why?
With stunning insight into the secret life of a troubled family, bestselling author Liz Nugent tries to fathom what turns a much-loved little boy into a sexual predator, or a shy child seeking his mother's love into a drug-addled narcissist, or an eager, ambitious young man into a liar and a traitor.
William, Brian, and Luke are each born a year apart in a lower middle-class Catholic family in 1960s Dublin. William, the eldest, rises to the top of the heap in the film business, a successful, in-demand movie producer. Luke, the baby in the family, surprises everyone by morphing into a worldwide pop star. Brian, the compliant middle son, is the eternal adult in the room: the helpful, steady one, the manager of finances and careers.
But these three men, beset by childhood demons, are not quite what they seem. All of them, wounded by childhood, seeking the salvation of unconditional love, betray each other in myriad ways, telling little lies that develop over time into full scale treachery. In the literary tradition of Christos Tsiolkas' powerful novel, The Slap, Liz Nugent explores the messy complications of family life and the ramifications of small and large choices made long before the responsibilities and pleasures of adulthood have to be confronted. Moving from Ireland in the 1960s to Paris to New York City and back, and finally to Hollywood, where the pressures of fame and fraternity can both make careers and end them, this novel exposes these brothers' petty grudges and hereditary betrayals. For anyone who has wondered how the predators of the Me Too movement were made, how they turned from innocent children to adults taking sometimes grievous advantage of the people in their wake, Nugent's nuanced understanding of the myriad forces that shape us from the very beginnings of our lives makes this her most powerful novel yet. A thought-provoking, meaningful, frequently moving and sometimes uneasy read, it seeks to explain why, indeed, "some of the most poisonous people come disguised as family."
This story begins with a funeral. One of three brothers is dead, mourned by his siblings. But which one? And how? And, most critically: why?
With stunning insight into the secret life of a troubled family, bestselling author Liz Nugent tries to fathom what turns a much-loved little boy into a sexual predator, or a shy child seeking his mother's love into a drug-addled narcissist, or an eager, ambitious young man into a liar and a traitor.
William, Brian, and Luke are each born a year apart in a lower middle-class Catholic family in 1960s Dublin. William, the eldest, rises to the top of the heap in the film business, a successful, in-demand movie producer. Luke, the baby in the family, surprises everyone by morphing into a worldwide pop star. Brian, the compliant middle son, is the eternal adult in the room: the helpful, steady one, the manager of finances and careers.
But these three men, beset by childhood demons, are not quite what they seem. All of them, wounded by childhood, seeking the salvation of unconditional love, betray each other in myriad ways, telling little lies that develop over time into full scale treachery. In the literary tradition of Christos Tsiolkas' powerful novel, The Slap, Liz Nugent explores the messy complications of family life and the ramifications of small and large choices made long before the responsibilities and pleasures of adulthood have to be confronted. Moving from Ireland in the 1960s to Paris to New York City and back, and finally to Hollywood, where the pressures of fame and fraternity can both make careers and end them, this novel exposes these brothers' petty grudges and hereditary betrayals. For anyone who has wondered how the predators of the Me Too movement were made, how they turned from innocent children to adults taking sometimes grievous advantage of the people in their wake, Nugent's nuanced understanding of the myriad forces that shape us from the very beginnings of our lives makes this her most powerful novel yet. A thought-provoking, meaningful, frequently moving and sometimes uneasy read, it seeks to explain why, indeed, "some of the most poisonous people come disguised as family."