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Shop nowBlame
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Learn moreBlame is a spellbinding novel of guilt and love, family and shame, sobriety and the lack of it, and the moral ambiguities that ensnare us all.
Patsy MacLemoore, a history professor in her late twenties, has a brand-new PhD from Berkeley and a wild streak. She wakes up in jail after an epic alcoholic blackout. “Okay, what’d I do?” she asks her lawyer and jailers. In fact, two Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter, are dead, run over in Patsy’s driveway.
Patsy will spend the rest of her life trying to atone. She goes to prison, gets sober, and upon her release finds a new community (and a husband) in AA. She resists temptations, strives for goodness, and becomes a selfless teacher, friend, and wife.
Then, decades later, another unimaginable piece of new information turns up. For the reader, it is an electrifying moment, a joyous, fall-off-the-couch-with-surprise moment. For Patsy, it is more complicated. Blame must be reapportioned, her life reassessed.
Michelle Huneven studied at Grinnell College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The author of two other novels, she has received a GE Younger Writers Award in Fiction and a James Beard Award. She lives in Los Angeles.
Hillary Huber is one of the most successful voice talents in Los Angeles. Recent books read for Blackstone Audio include Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him by Patricia Marx, A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read, and A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart.
Reviews
“Like that other West Coast chronicler of struggling Americans, Raymond Carver…[Huneven] is not interested in literary pretension or postmodern razzle-dazzle, but in achieving a measure of truth—and her generous, engaging novel does just that.”
“Brilliant observations, excellent characters, spiffy dialogue, and a clever plot keep readers hooked, and the final twist turns Patsy’s new life on its ear. Huneven’s exploration of misdeeds real and imagined is humane, insightful and beautiful.”
“A sympathetic, well-wrought story of a brilliant young woman’s slow crawl toward self-understanding after her life is upended by a horrible accident…The satisfactions Blame offers readers are elegant prose and, deeper than that aesthetic pleasure, the intelligence and compassion Huneven brings to her characters. She holds them all with the utmost tenderness.”
“An elegant, hair-raising novel…Huneven’s prose is flawless, with especially arresting descriptions of the Southern California landscape, and her strong but fragile heroine is mercilessly honest.”
“For Huneven, the blame of the title isn't some black-and-white object to explain or assign so much as it is something to explore in countless shades of gray. The result is a novel that combines the compulsive pleasures of a page-turner and the deeper satisfaction of true, thoughtful literature. A-”
“Sly yet openhearted, Michelle Huneven’s Blame takes on the recovery movement in this novel about Patsy MacLemoore, a slightly wild, 20-something history professor involved in an alcohol-related crime. All too flawed, Patsy eventually finds redemption, only to wind up questioning her hard-won moral certainties later on. Think The Good Mother or House of Sand and Fog: It’s that good.”
“In her writing style, Huneven reminds me of Richard Russo: somber, but laced with elements of humor, friendship, and joy. She writes side characters so rich they could each carry their own novel…though Huneven’s take on addiction and recovery makes Blame a great read for anyone dealing with these issues, it’s also the kind of book that's perfect for someone who wouldn’t normally touch a book on the subject with a ten-foot pole.”
“Hillary Huber’s throaty voice and sarcastic undertones convey the character of young college professor Patsy MacLemoore…Both narrator and author keep to a solid pace as they trace Patsy’s growth during two years of prison—then her release, remorse, redemption, and much later, a startling revelation. Detailed sensory descriptions of Patsy’s life in Altadena Prison make convincing the story’s contrasting realities. Huber’s on-target portrayals of minor characters and her snappy rendition of spicy dialogue also contribute to the compelling listening.”
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