Trondheim
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE
A son's collapse pulls his two mothers together and apart in a novel that probes the limits of love, hope, and forgiveness
In Norway, thousands of miles from home, a student drops dead on the street. A passerby revives his heart, but he remains in a coma from which he may never wake. His mothers rush across the continent to his bedside where they endure the strain of helpless waiting. As the tense hospital vigil continues day after day and they vacillate between extremes of hope, fear, and psychic pain, their troubled relationship is pushed to the edge.
A profound exploration of a family in crisis, Trondheim portrays the way each woman copes with the looming tragedy and the possibility of healing in the wake of a life-altering emergency.
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Become an affiliateCormac James is the author of three novels, including Trondheim and The Surfacing. Born in Cork, Ireland, he lives in Montpellier, France.
Praise for Trondheim
New York Times "Editors' Choice" selection
Kirkus Reviews "Great Books From Irish Writers" selection
"Delicately and deeply probes the mothers and their relationship." --Katie Kitamura, New York Times Book Review
"James' elegant novel will leave [readers] shattered and uplifted." --Washington Independent Review of Books
"Foster[s] profound reflections upon the characters' individual and shared lives. . . . Poignant and prescient." --North of Oxford
"Extraordinary and meticulous. . . . An X-ray picture of the subcutaneous breaks and sprains in a rocky relationship." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Compelling throughout. . . . Trondheim is an exquisite novel that explores maternal love, the price of hope, and how bodies endure." --Foreword Reviews
"An intelligent character-driven story of a lesbian couple. . . . The end result is a poignant meditation on grief, perseverance, and the complications of love." --Publishers Weekly
Select Praise for Cormac James and The Surfacing
"Harrowing." --Oprah.com
"Gratifyingly defies expectations." --New York Times Book Review
"Highly original and poetic. . . . The writing sparkles with inventiveness." --John Boyne, Irish Times
"The great topic of Cormac James' The Surfacing is the reach of human possibility. The prose is calm, vivid, hypnotic, and acutely piercing. James is attuned to the psychological moment. . . . It's a remarkable achievement, a stylish novel, full of music and quiet control." --Colum McCann