A Woman on the Edge of Time: A Son Investigates His Trailblazing Mother's Young Suicide
Jeremy Gavron
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
London, 1965: A brilliant young woman--a prescient advocate for women's rights at the dawn of modern feminism--has just gassed herself to death, leaving behind a suicide note, two young sons, and a soon-to-be-published sociological study, The Captive Wife: Conflicts of Housebound Mothers.Hannah Gavron had seemingly led a charmed life since childhood: She had been a champion equestrian, had studied acting alongside Peter O'Toole. As a bright, sophisticated adult, swept up in the progressive politics of the '60s, she was a promising academic and the wife of a rising entrepreneur. No one who knew Hannah ever imagined that she might take her own life.
Jeremy Gavron was just four when his mother died. Afterward, a silence descended so completely on her family and friends that it was as if she had never lived. In this searching portrait of Hannah, Jeremy embarks on a quest to break forty years of silence, to try to understand who his mother was and what drove her to suicide.
He's left to piece her life together from what remains: letters, diaries, and the faded memories of old acquaintances. As he digs into her past, he uncovers a darker side to Hannah's life--societal pressure, marital strife, and inescapable sexism that discounted her desire for more as a sign of mental illness. Ultimately, Jeremy not only comes as close as he can to knowing his mother--he also vividly captures the suffocating constrictions placed on every ambitious woman in the mid-twentieth century.
Product Details
Price
$24.95
$23.20
Publisher
Experiment
Publish Date
September 20, 2016
Pages
272
Dimensions
5.6 X 8.4 X 1.0 inches | 0.9 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781615193387
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About the Author
Jeremy Gavron is the author of The Book of Israel, winner of the Encore Award, and An Acre of Barren Ground. A former foreign correspondent in Africa and Asia, he lives in London, and teaches in the MFA program at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.
Reviews
2016 Gordon Burn Prize Finalist
An Observer, London Times, and Sydney Morning Herald book of the year
"Beautifully written--wholly unique--A Woman on the Edge of Time is an elegy/memoir that is also a kind of detective story--in which the author investigates, with as much dread as hope, the circumstances leading to the suicide of his charismatic and accomplished mother many years before. It is difficult not to rush through Jeremy Gavron's compelling story which would translate brilliantly into cinematic form.--Joyce Carol Oates
A thoughtful meditation on a ruthless, mysterious final act.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
[Gavron's] careful work conjures not only one remarkable woman but also a snapshot of the fractured lives of women in general during the rapidly warping 1960s, with moving and revelatory conclusions. In a book with suicide in its subtitle, Gavron reminds readers of art's work in raising the dead.-- "Booklist"
Jeremy Gavron's quest to find his mother has produced a groundbreaking book and moving portrait of a spirited young woman--a 'captive wife'--who refused to accept the social constraints of her time. Unforgettable.--Tina Brown
This volume succeeds as both a poignant memoir and a well-researched and -constructed investigation of a life ended too soon. An engrossing and highly recommended portrait of a woman who burned too brightly for her time and the long-term effects of suicide by a child left behind.-- "Library Journal"
[Gavron's] writing poignantly touches the enigmatic interior life of a mother 'forever out of reach.'-- "Publishers Weekly"
The legacy of a mother and her suicide reveals the story of both a woman and a social movement.-- "Shelf Awareness"
This is a memoir and a non-memoir, one on many levels, of Hannah Gavron's absence, of her charismatic presence, and a vivid vision too of the decades which framed her. . . . This pioneering, intense, and visceral work . . . is both an act of mourning and a revelation of life. The genius of A Woman on the Edge of Time is that the impossible, very real Hannah Gavron--cheeky, warm, clever, determined, brilliant, shining, paradoxical--comes so fully back to life.--Ali Smith, Times Literary Supplement
Gavron explores the complex ups and downs of [his mother's] story with startling intensity.-- "The Dartmouth"
Mesmerising . . . Meticulous, even-handed and quietly revelatory, [A Woman on the Edge of Time] may be read both as a kind of detective story, the reader's stomach fluttering wildly each time he tracks down another witness, and as a work of social history, a sly skewering of the limitations, whether spoken or unspoken, which were then placed on women.--Rachel Cooke, Observer
Gavron is too subtle and intelligent to make the mistake of believing that suicide is ever about only one thing. And here, in beautiful, mesmeric prose, he delves deep into the shadow side of his mother's life. . . . The result is a memoir that is surely going to be regarded as a classic of the genre.-- "Independent"
Jeremy Gavron's quest [in writing A Woman on the Edge of Time] is a double quest: to find out what his mother was like in life and to find out why she killed herself. . . . The tenacity with which he pursues this goal is extraordinary. . . . The taboo of silence that shrouded Jeremy's childhood is broken. Those complicit with it aren't arraigned; the tone is patient and compassionate. But Hannah [Gavron] steps out of the shadow, 50 years on, and the great unsaids are finally spoken.--Blake Morrison, Guardian
Gavron's attempt to understand, and thus forgive . . . the mother who abandoned him, is admirable.-- "Financial Times"
Gavron has written a book as brave and honest as it is heart-stopping and gripping. With the meticulousness of a detective and the heart and soul of an abandoned son, he sets out to examine a family tragedy so raw and agonising that it is rarely talked, let alone written, about. I felt for him--and every man, woman, and child in this book --whilst at the same time finding myself unable to put it down. Yes, you sense him stepping, with touching sensitivity, through some desperately painful (and potentially dangerous) territory. But if authors can't write about the mysteries closest to their hearts, then what point is there, really, in memoir?--Julie Myerson, author of Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House
A Woman on the Edge of Time possesses all the signature verve, imagination, and elegance of Gavron's writing but he brings to this, the story of his mother's suicide when he was four years old, a particular burning, restless intelligence. The result is a memoir of devastating, heartbreaking power: I had to put my life on hold to finish it.--Maggie O'Farrell, author of Instructions for a Heat Wave
An Observer, London Times, and Sydney Morning Herald book of the year
"Beautifully written--wholly unique--A Woman on the Edge of Time is an elegy/memoir that is also a kind of detective story--in which the author investigates, with as much dread as hope, the circumstances leading to the suicide of his charismatic and accomplished mother many years before. It is difficult not to rush through Jeremy Gavron's compelling story which would translate brilliantly into cinematic form.--Joyce Carol Oates
A thoughtful meditation on a ruthless, mysterious final act.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
[Gavron's] careful work conjures not only one remarkable woman but also a snapshot of the fractured lives of women in general during the rapidly warping 1960s, with moving and revelatory conclusions. In a book with suicide in its subtitle, Gavron reminds readers of art's work in raising the dead.-- "Booklist"
Jeremy Gavron's quest to find his mother has produced a groundbreaking book and moving portrait of a spirited young woman--a 'captive wife'--who refused to accept the social constraints of her time. Unforgettable.--Tina Brown
This volume succeeds as both a poignant memoir and a well-researched and -constructed investigation of a life ended too soon. An engrossing and highly recommended portrait of a woman who burned too brightly for her time and the long-term effects of suicide by a child left behind.-- "Library Journal"
[Gavron's] writing poignantly touches the enigmatic interior life of a mother 'forever out of reach.'-- "Publishers Weekly"
The legacy of a mother and her suicide reveals the story of both a woman and a social movement.-- "Shelf Awareness"
This is a memoir and a non-memoir, one on many levels, of Hannah Gavron's absence, of her charismatic presence, and a vivid vision too of the decades which framed her. . . . This pioneering, intense, and visceral work . . . is both an act of mourning and a revelation of life. The genius of A Woman on the Edge of Time is that the impossible, very real Hannah Gavron--cheeky, warm, clever, determined, brilliant, shining, paradoxical--comes so fully back to life.--Ali Smith, Times Literary Supplement
Gavron explores the complex ups and downs of [his mother's] story with startling intensity.-- "The Dartmouth"
Mesmerising . . . Meticulous, even-handed and quietly revelatory, [A Woman on the Edge of Time] may be read both as a kind of detective story, the reader's stomach fluttering wildly each time he tracks down another witness, and as a work of social history, a sly skewering of the limitations, whether spoken or unspoken, which were then placed on women.--Rachel Cooke, Observer
Gavron is too subtle and intelligent to make the mistake of believing that suicide is ever about only one thing. And here, in beautiful, mesmeric prose, he delves deep into the shadow side of his mother's life. . . . The result is a memoir that is surely going to be regarded as a classic of the genre.-- "Independent"
Jeremy Gavron's quest [in writing A Woman on the Edge of Time] is a double quest: to find out what his mother was like in life and to find out why she killed herself. . . . The tenacity with which he pursues this goal is extraordinary. . . . The taboo of silence that shrouded Jeremy's childhood is broken. Those complicit with it aren't arraigned; the tone is patient and compassionate. But Hannah [Gavron] steps out of the shadow, 50 years on, and the great unsaids are finally spoken.--Blake Morrison, Guardian
Gavron's attempt to understand, and thus forgive . . . the mother who abandoned him, is admirable.-- "Financial Times"
Gavron has written a book as brave and honest as it is heart-stopping and gripping. With the meticulousness of a detective and the heart and soul of an abandoned son, he sets out to examine a family tragedy so raw and agonising that it is rarely talked, let alone written, about. I felt for him--and every man, woman, and child in this book --whilst at the same time finding myself unable to put it down. Yes, you sense him stepping, with touching sensitivity, through some desperately painful (and potentially dangerous) territory. But if authors can't write about the mysteries closest to their hearts, then what point is there, really, in memoir?--Julie Myerson, author of Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House
A Woman on the Edge of Time possesses all the signature verve, imagination, and elegance of Gavron's writing but he brings to this, the story of his mother's suicide when he was four years old, a particular burning, restless intelligence. The result is a memoir of devastating, heartbreaking power: I had to put my life on hold to finish it.--Maggie O'Farrell, author of Instructions for a Heat Wave
