The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

The Fact of a Body by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

Complex and challenging... push es] the boundaries of writing about trauma. --The New York Times
A True Crime Masterpiece - Vogue
Entertainment Weekly Must List and Best Books of the Year So Far
Real Simple's Best New Books
Guardian Best Book of the Year
Lambda Literary Award Winner
Chautauqua Prize Winner

The Fact of a Body is one of the best books I've read this year. It's just astounding.
-- Paula Hawkins, author of Into the Water and The Girl on the Train

This book is a marvel. The Fact of a Body is equal parts gripping and haunting and will leave you questioning whether any one story can hold the full truth. -- Celeste Ng, author of the New York Times bestselling Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere

Before Alex Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, they think their position is clear. The child of two lawyers, they are staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley's face flashes on the screen as they review old tapes--the moment they hear him speak of his crimes -- they are overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by their reaction, they dig deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.

Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alex pores over the facts of the murder, they find themself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky's childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky's case, they are forced to face their own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors their view of Ricky's crime.

But another surprise awaits: They weren't the only one who saw their life in Ricky's.

An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, THE FACT OF A BODY is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed -- but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe -- and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.

Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts fellow, the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Award, and a two-time fellow at both MacDowell and Yaddo. Her essays appear in The New York Times and WAVEFORM: Twenty-first Century Essays by Women. She now teaches at GrubStreet and at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781250080547
ISBN 10	1250080541
Title	The Fact of a Body
Author	Alex Marzano-Lesnevich
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Flatiron Books
Year published	2017-05-16
Number of pages	336
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.