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Moore, Susanna : The Big Girls

Knopf, 2007

ISBN 1400041902

1.1 x 8.3 x 5.6 Inches; 240 pages;

At the heart of this electrifying novel is a crime of unfathomable horror and its effect on several profoundly different lives, each altered by a surprising connection to the others.

We hear four brilliantly realized voices: Helen, an inmate at Sloatsburg women’s prison serving a life sentence for the murder of her children; trapped within the maze of her own tortured mind, she is the subject of damning national attention. Dr. Louise Forrest, the recently divorced mother of an eight-year-old boy—the new chief of psychiatry at Sloatsburg. Angie, an ambitious Hollywood starlet, intent on nothing but fame. And Ike Bradshaw, a sardonic corrections officer, formerly a New York City narcotics detective.

As the alternating narratives unfold, we begin to wonder why Dr. Forrest has chosen Sloatsburg over the Park Avenue practice for which she was trained. And the origin of Helen’s psychosis is revealed—both its shocking depths and its disturbingly convincing rationale—as well as why she is desperate to make herself known to the young actress Angie.

The Big Girls is a powerful and audacious novel about the anarchy of families, the sometimes destructive power of the maternal instinct, the vitality and evil of communities, and the cult of celebrity—written in spare, evocative prose and with a bold understanding of the darkest, most hidden aspects of human nature.

Moore, Susanna : The Big Girls

Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY, 2007

ISBN 1400041902

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 224 pages. The author's sixth novel. One of Susanna Moore's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Susanna Moore's "The Big Girls". One of her most beautifully written novels. "In spare yet hypnotic prose, Susanna Moore examines the bond between a young psychiatrist and a mentally ill patient in her devastating novel, set at an upstate New York federal women's prison. Sloatsburg Correctional Institution is dangerous, under-staffed, under-financed, and overwhelmingly grim. The place epitomizes what is wrong with our nation's prison system and stands as a warning about our growing mental health crisis. Moore deftly shifts perspective among her principal characters as the action hurtles to an oddly satisfying resolution. Reading this heart-breaker is like watching a train wreck while dialing for help on your cellphone. You can't turn away" (Publishers Weekly). An absolute "must-have" title for Susanna Moore collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in blue ink-pen on the title page by Susanna Moore. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is now collectible. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the Pen/Ernest Hemingway Citation and The Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. One of the finest American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER SUSANNA MOORE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1400041902.

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