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 more than that it's the tale of how he got there rather 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.

Comparison: Jodi Picoult, Dave Eggers, Jane Hamilton
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Synopsis

This title has been made into a film starring Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly, directed by Lynne Ramsay. it premiered at Cannes in May 2011 and is released in the UK in October 2011. Click the screen below to view the trailer.

Eva never really wanted to be a mother; certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood and Kevin's horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her absent husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails. Adapted and directed by Lynne Ramsay ( Morvern Callar, and Ratcatcher ), the film of We Need to Talk About Kevin stars Tila Swinton ( I Am Love ) and John C. Reilly ( The Aviator), with Ezra Miller (Californication) as the eponymous teenage murderer.

Reviews

'Stunning' (Daily Mail)

'Startling' (Guardian)

'Superb' (Daily Telegraph)

'Fierce' (Independent)

'Pitch-perfect, devastating and utterly convincing' (Geoff Dyer)

'The best thing I've read in years' (Jeremy Vine)

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