Acts of Forgiveness

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Product Details
Price
$28.00  $26.04
Publisher
Ballantine Books
Publish Date
Pages
320
Dimensions
5.82 X 8.58 X 0.93 inches | 0.92 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780593598290

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About the Author
Maura Cheeks has published writing in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and Tin House, among others. In 2019, she was awarded a masthead reporting residency with The Atlantic where she produced the feature-length article that would later inspire the idea for this book. Acts of Forgiveness is her first novel.
Reviews
"Acts of Forgiveness is a vibrant and moving debut that takes to heart our deferred dreams and the value of remaining hopeful. Cheeks's layered and tender story allows us to witness a family's journey as they plant seeds, dig up roots, and bloom, all while they contend with injustices and fight for redemption in the world around them."--Diane Marie Brown, author of Black Candle Women

"In Acts of Forgiveness, Maura Cheeks extends humanity, depth, hope, and complexity to a part of the American experience that too often gets flattened into talking points. This book is a testament to the power of great fiction to lead us to a better understanding of the truth. A generous and empathetic study of burden and inheritance, consequence and regret, this book and its characters are going to live with me for a long time."--R. Eric Thomas, bestselling author of Congratulations, The Best Is Over!

"Acts of Forgiveness is a striking debut that asks pressing and urgent questions about reckoning with this nation's history, and what it offers by way of answers is incredibly moving. Cheeks's ability to render a painful past, an unfixed present, and a hopeful future through the Revels' hopes and fears is astonishing. This novel grips with intellect and heart."--Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park

"Acts of Forgiveness is the rare novel that lays out a hypothetical public policy and its attendant bureaucracy, weaving a story with an imaginative yet realistic exploration of what reparations might look like--what might be missed and what might be achieved. But above all, it is a story about family, with all the challenge, ambiguity, interconnection, obligation, and love the term carries. . . . A generous, thoughtful, and thought-provoking novel about inheritance in all its forms."--Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State

"Engrossing . . . [Maura] Cheeks seamlessly threads the themes of resentment, forgiveness, and legacy through the multilayered narrative. Readers will be moved."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Cheeks' debut novel seeks to explore the question of 'whether forgiveness could be political, and, if so, could it last.' . . . A freshly told, complex family drama with an intriguing premise."--Kirkus Reviews

"Complex family relationship dynamics and hidden histories are elegantly examined in Cheeks' debut family saga. . . . Cheeks imbues her characters with depth and emotion and tackles the personal and the political with skillful, expressive writing, and the Revel family story is engrossing."--Booklist