Did You Ever Have a Family

Full of small-town secrets and whispers, Bill Clegg has woven a richly textured tale of loss and healing. This is a deeply optimistic book about the power of human sympathy to pull us from the wreckage of our fate. -- Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize The force, range, and scope of Bill Clegg's Did You Ever Have a Family grab you with its opening line, and don't let go until its final one. I can't recall another novel that so effortlessly weds a nuanced, lyrical voice to an unflinching vision of just how badly things can go for people. I read it deep into the night, all the way through, telling myself it was getting late, I could finish the book in the morning. I finished it that night, however, slept a few hours, and then, in the morning, started reading it again. -- Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours Like the question it poses, Did You Ever Have a Family is brutally direct yet it's got an enormous symbolic power. You hold in your hands a great book of kindness - every restrained, exquisite sentence comes loaded for bear. It's been a lot of years since a novel has so moved me. Number Bill Clegg among that endangered species: major American writer. -- Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and Half a Life This devastating novel is almost the definition of a literary pageturner and somehow it escapes being too bleak: a dark tale of family secrets shot through with glimmers of light and hope. * Bookseller * This devastating novel is almost the definition of a literary pageturner and somehow it escapes being too bleak: a dark tale of family secrets shot through with glimmers of light and hope. * Bookseller *