Exit Wounds by Peter Godwin

Exit Wounds by Peter Godwin

LONGLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION

Peter's mother is dying. Born in England and having spent most of her adult life as a doctor in Zimbabwe, she now lies on a hospital bed in the partitioned living room of his sister's London apartment, her accent having overnight become posher than the Queen's. Unsentimental, fiercely stubborn and at times hilarious, she finally drops her guard, losing all fear of conflict to become the family provocateur.

While confronting the revelations of what his family was - and wasn't - and the stoicism that sometimes threatened to destroy them, Peter also mourns the ending of his long marriage. At this point of rupture and healing, Peter reflects on his family's legacy of exile and their tenuous hold on home.

In Exit Wounds: A Story of Love, Loss and Occasional Wars, Peter Godwin considers, with both tenderness and candour, the life of émigrés, exiles and refugees, and grieves the many losses that make life both magnificent and unbearable. He brings us into the spaces which make us question, suffer and celebrate the relationships we have among family and friends, and the healing of our own wounds.

A profound account of this strange time of life we're all in - when all the certainties we thought we'd sorted out are collapsing around us and we're suddenly like naked children in the wilderness. . This moving memoir is an essential addition to Peter Godwin's brilliant oeuvre -- CLAIRE MESSUD
So funny, so elegant, so erudite, and as a portrait of an extraordinary mother and the family she made, it is masterful, moving and unforgettable -- DAVE EGGERS
A memoir on love, loss and life, of rare candour and intimacy, utterly compelling, by a truly brilliant writer -- PHILIPPE SANDS
Unforgettable . . . I was so enchanted by Godwin's prose, his insights, his deft use of imagery and the conversations between mother and son, husband and wife, brother and sister - some heartbreaking, some funny, some walking that tightrope between - that I didn't want this brilliant book to end -- MAGGIE SMITH
A rich, shattering memoir of an extraordinary family. Lifted up by rueful humour, easy erudition, painful honesty and deep affection, Peter Godwin's story swings between Zimbabwe and New York, with time in London, where his formidable mother is dying. Exit Wounds is a harrowing, gorgeous account, ultimately, of his own long search for home -- WILLIAM FINNEGAN
Praise for Mukiwa: The life of the white boys and girls in colonial Africa has vanished now, but this fine and powerful memoir is a marvellous contribution to its literature -- WILLIAM BOYD * * Sunday Times * *
Remarkable -- DORIS LESSING * * Observer * *
Praise for The Fear: The Fear is an important book . . . Godwin is passionate and personal, as well as bold in his travel and scrupulous in his documentation -- PAUL THEROUX
The Fear is an urgent and essential book . . . it makes for relentlessly gripping reading -- PHILIP GOUREVITCH
A feat of fearless reporting, this shattering story is not only an expose of the horrors of political violence, but a testament to the astonishing courage of ordinary citizens in the face of evil -- MELANIE THERNSTROM

Peter Godwin was born and raised in Zimbabwe. He is the author of six non-fiction books including Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell Prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, which won the Borders Original Voices Award. His book The Fear was selected by the New Yorker as a best book of the year. He has taught writing at Wesleyan and Columbia, and served as President of the PEN American Center. He is an Orwell fellow and a Guggenheim fellow. He lives in New York City.

@petergodwin

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781805303336
Title	Exit Wounds
Author	Peter Godwin
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Canongate Books
Year published	2024-09-12
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.