Prodigal

Shortlisted for the Polari Prize 2019

By: Charles Lambert

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Paperback | 23 August 2018

At a Glance

Paperback
392 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.8 x 13.1 x 3.1

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An innovative family drama exploring the nature of trust, death, and the things we do in the name of love.

'The phone rings, in that short-tempered peremptory way machines have. He almost doesn't answer; he's been fending off unwanted offers of insurance, unlimited broadband, crates of discount wine for months now. His name must be on some list somewhere Jeremy Eldritch, sucker...'

Meet the hapless Jeremy: a man in his late 50s, he scrapes together a living in Paris by writing soft-core pornography under the saucy guise of 'Nathalie Cray'. When his all-but-estranged sister tells him their father is on his deathbed, Jeremy reluctantly travels back to his parental home in the depths of the English countryside. Confronted with a life that he had always been eager to escape, his return marks the start of an emotionally fraught journey into the family's chequered past. The journey takes him back to the unexpected death of his mother in a provincial Greek hospital years earlier and, further back, to the moment at which the Eldritch family fell apart. It's a journey composed of revelations, of secrets disclosed and not disclosed, and of something that might, or might not, be reconciliation...

An atypical coming-of-age tale, Prodigal deftly reconsiders everything we think we know about the nature of trust, death, and what we do to each other in the name of love.

About the Author

Charles Lambert is the author of several novels, short stories, and the memoir With a Zero at its Heart, which was voted one of The Guardian readers' Ten Best Books of the Year in 2014.

In 2007, he won an O. Henry Award for his short story The Scent of Cinnamon. His first novel, Little Monsters , was longlisted for the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Born in England, Charles Lambert has lived in central Italy since 1980.

Industry Reviews

SHORTLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2019

Praise for Charles Lambert:

'Charles Lambert could one day attain classic status' Maggie Gee

'Charles Lambert is a seriously good writer' Dame Beryl Bainbridge

'Charming, elegant and deeply poignant' TLS

Praise for The Children's Home:

'A beautiful and uncanny novel by a writer who never ceases to surprise' Jenny Offill, author of Weather

'Expertly crafted' Owen King, author of Double Feature

'More delicate than Dickens and stranger than Snicket ... Sometimes heart-stopping, sometimes heart-warming, it is a provocative tale, ripe with intrigue. I loved every weird moment of it' Nuala O'Connor, author of Miss Emily

'This disquieting novel is surely one of the year's most bizarre stories... Mr. Lambert's subtle prose enhances the novel's creepiness, as does his refusal to fully resolve or explain its many mysteries' New York Times

'Beautifully written and crafted, and more compelling than many thrillers' Daily Mail

'Compulsively readable, a one-of-a-kind literary horror story' Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

'This genre-bending debut is by turns dread-inducing and heartwarming, a masterful exploration of whether innocence can truly sprout from ignorance....a magical, mesmerizing tale about the courage it takes to confront the unknown' Booklist, STARRED review

'Mesmerizing....The folkloric undertone and stylish prose, which is replete with gruesome and wondrous images, keep the reader turning the pages' Publishers Weekly

'This genre-bending horror story is sure to haunt you in all the best ways' Bustle 'Best Books of the Month'

'Charles Lambert's novel is entirely original ... highly compelling and invigorating writing' Lonesome Reader

'Charles Lambert has crafted an exquisitely strange and deliciously dark offering ... the narrative itself will haunt his readers well beyond the margins of its pages' High Voltage Magazine

'A haunting Gothic in the vein of Shirley Jackson, steeped with the mystery and imagination of Neil Gaiman's fairy tales. Lambert's prose is beautiful and his tale is mesmerizing' Cemetery Dance Online

'The Children's Home is the best kind of ghost story - one that scares, one that surprises ... and one that you simply can't stop reading' Maine Edge

'... definitely recommend this if you're in the mood for something a little creepy' Bored to Death Book Club

'The Children's Home may well be the most surprising, thought provoking and also baffling book I've ever read' Bailieborough Library Reading Group

'Lambert is a brilliant writer, and his absorbing new novel, The Children's Home, is the best literary fiction I have read in some time' Seattle Book Mama

'A powerful construction of creeping dread which skilfully keeps the reader off-balance at every turn' The Star

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