Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005.

Narrated by a mother, Eve, in letters to her estranged husband, this is a truly horrific story of a 15-year old boy’s killing spree but it is more the tale of how he got there than of the crime itself.  It harks back to Eve’s relationship with her husband and the upbringing of the child.  The big question is how much she is, or not, to blame for the tragedy that unfolds.  Stark and unbelievably painful, it touches on truths not often spoken of.  A great book.

Similar this month: None but try Clare Sambrook.
Comparison: Douglas Coupland, Alex Garland, Jodi Picoult.

Synopsis

Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 29 January 2009.

Two years ago, Eva Khatchadourian's son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker, and a popular algebra teacher. Because he was only fifteen at the time of the killings, he received a lenient sentence and is now in a prison for young offenders in upstate New York. Telling the story of Kevin's upbringing, Eva addresses herself to her estranged husband through a series of letters. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become, she confesses to a deep, long-standing ambivalence about both motherhood in general and Kevin in particular. How much is her fault?

Reviews

'An awesomely smart, stylish and pitiless achievement'
Independent

'Taps into unspoken fears of maternal ambivalence that are not easily acknowledged and do not fit neatly into glossy magazine notions of female empowerment'
Guardian Unlimited

'Harrowing, tense and thought-provoking, this is a vocal challenge to every accepted parenting manual you've ever read'
Daily Mail

'An elegant psychological and philosophical investigation of culpability with a brilliant denouement'
Observer

'As a mother of two, reading Lionel Shriver's novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin was a comfort and a revelation'
Jenni Murray, BBC Women's Hour

About the Author

Lionel Shriver is a novelist whose previous books include Orange Prize–winner We Need to Talk About Kevin, The Post-Birthday World, A Perfectly Good Family, Game Control, Double Fault, The Female of the Species, Checker and the Derailleurs, and Ordinary Decent Criminals. She is widely published as a journalist, writing features, columns, op-eds, and book reviews for the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Economist, Marie Claire, and many other publications. She is frequently interviewed on television, radio, and in print media. She lives in London and Brooklyn, NY. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation