Read more
Praise for
Room:
'Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness' Audrey Niffenegger, author of
The Time Traveler's Wife'One of the most profoundly affecting books I've read in a long time' John Boyne, author of
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'Sophisticated in outlook and execution . . . Utterly plausible, vividly described'
New York Times'Absorbing, truthful and beautiful . . . it is a kind of sustained poem in praise of motherhood and parental love'
Observer'Donoghue mines material that on the face of it appears intractably bleak and surfaces with a powerful, compulsively readable work of fiction'
Irish Times
About the author
Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish emigrant twice over: she spent eight years in Cambridge doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature before moving to London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner and their two children. She also migrates between genres, writing literary history, biography, stage and radio plays as well as fairy tales and short stories. She is best known for her novels, which range from the historical (Frog Music, Slammerkin, Life Mask, Landing, The Sealed Letter and The Wonder) to the contemporary (Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and was a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes.
Summary
Akin is a tender tale of love, loss and family, from Emma Donoghue, the international bestselling author of Room.
'If Room forced home truths on us, about parenthood, responsibility and love, Akin deals with similar subject matter more subtly, but in the end just as compellingly' - Guardian
A retired New York professor’s life is thrown into chaos when he takes his great-nephew to the French Riviera, in hopes of uncovering his own mother's wartime secrets.
Noah is only days away from his first trip back to Nice since he was a child when a social worker calls looking for a temporary home for Michael, his eleven-year-old great-nephew. Though he has never met the boy, he gets talked into taking him along to France.
This odd couple, suffering from jet lag and culture shock, argue about everything from steak haché to screen time, and the trip is looking like a disaster. But as Michael's ease with tech and sharp eye help Noah unearth troubling details about their family’s past, both of them come to grasp the risks that people in all eras have run for their loved ones, and find they are more akin than they knew.
Written with all the tenderness and psychological intensity that made Room a huge bestseller, Akin is a funny, heart-wrenching tale of an old man and a boy who unpick their painful story and start to write a new one together.
'Poignant and hopeful, the bestselling novelist of Room has delivered another exquisite portrayal of an adult and child making their way in the world' – Woman & Home
Foreword
A retired professor’s life is thrown into chaos when he takes his adolescent great-nephew to the French Riviera in hopes of uncovering long-buried family secrets, in this stunning masterpiece from bestselling author Emma Donoghue.
Additional text
Donoghue mines material that on the face of it appears intractably bleak and surfaces with a powerful, compulsively readable work of fiction
