Overview

It begins with two girls: Neva, from the Caucasus, sold into the sex trade; and Poppy, the adopted daughter of a wealthy New York real estate family, the Zanes. As their paths cross and their fates intertwine in an exquisite high drama that blurs the lines between realism and myth, we travel with them from lavish weddings to the transglobal underworld; from London and New York to Laos and Istanbul; and we watch as the mighty Zane dynasty slips from greatness. Mendelsohn captures the emotional worlds of these characters with visceral immediacy, and transforms their private narratives into a larger story about the forces of globalization, human trafficking, and sexual violence. Gripping and psychologically acute, Burning Down the House is an extraordinary family saga that limns the inescapable connections between the personal and the political.

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9781101911198

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Reviews

A powerful parable for ultra-globalized times. -Vogue Mendelsohn has written a book for the ages. . . . This is literature of the first order. -Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon Powerful. . . . Thrilling. . . . There are flashes of stunning beauty. -Paste Oracular, dazzling. . . . Gorgeous, feverishly imaginative. -Booklist (starred review)

-A powerful parable for ultra-globalized times.- --Vogue -Mendelsohn has written a book for the ages. . . . This is literature of the first order.- --Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon -Powerful. . . . Thrilling. . . . There are flashes of stunning beauty.- --Paste -Oracular, dazzling. . . . Gorgeous, feverishly imaginative.- --Booklist (starred review)

Flashes of stunning beauty . . . Thrilling, akin to standing on Camus beach with the Arab down the sights. B. David Zarley, <i>Paste</i> Divinely, fabulously bonkers . . . Mendelsohn is utterly shameless about defying everything we reasonably know to be true about the world in order to make her story work. Shameless and also brilliant. Cath Murphy, <i>Lit Reactor</i> Dazzling . . . With her crystal clear description of life, down to the exact smells of a moment in time, Mendelsohn captures the nuances at the heart of this family drama, along with the details that make it authentic. The beauty she elicits at every turn adds up to a spectacular commentary on the struggles in chasing hope, and of the human existence. Karin Greenberg, <i>Woodbury</i> A powerful parable for ultra-globalized times. <i>Vogue</i> In her dramatic fourth novel, an incendiary saga about the Zanes, a grandly wealthy New York family, Mendelsohn revels in surging, hallucinogenic, even baroque language as she conveys the full extent of their flagrant privilege, supernatural decadence, and hidden misery. . . . With gorgeous, feverishly imaginative descriptions of her tormented character s psyches, and settings ranging from Manhattan to Istanbul to Laos, Mendelsohn, oracular, dazzling, and shocking, creates a maelstrom of tragic failings and crimes, exposing the global reach of the violent sex-trafficking underworld, and excoriating those among the planetary elite who allow it to metastasize. Donna Seaman, <i>Booklist</i>, starred review With her devastating eye for the telling detail, her always penetrating insight, and her quiet wit, Jane Mendelsohn has written a book for the ages, an extraordinary investigation of human vanity and vulnerability, of power and disenfranchisement, of luxury and sorrow. Her writing is both taut and lush, her wounded characters both extravagant and authentic, her story grand yet intimate. This is literature of the first order. Andrew Solomon <i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>

A powerful parable for ultra-globalized times. <i>Vogue</i> Mendelsohn has written a book for the ages. . . . This is literature of the first order. Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winning author of <i>The Noonday Demon</i> Powerful. . . . Thrilling. . . . There are flashes of stunning beauty. <i>Paste</i> Oracular, dazzling. . . . Gorgeous, feverishly imaginative. <i>Booklist</i> (starred review)

Author Information

Jane Mendelsohn is the author of three previous novels, including I Was Amelia Earhart, a New York Times best seller and a finalist for the Orange Prize; Innocence; and American Music. A graduate of Yale, she lives in New York City with her husband and children. www.janemendelsohn.com

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