McCracken, Elizabeth

Elizabeth McCracken is the author of eight books, including The Souvenir Museum (longlisted for the National Book Award), Bowlaway, Thunderstruck & Other Stories (winner of the 2014 Story Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award), and The Giant’s House (National Book Award finalist). Ten months after her mother’s death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book (Ecco) takes a trip to London. The city was a favorite of her mother’s, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself reflecting on her mother’s life and their relationship. Thoughts of the past meld with questions of the future: Back in New England, the family home is now up for sale, its considerable contents already winnowed. The woman, a writer, recalls all that made her complicated mother extraordinary – her brilliant wit, her generosity, her unbelievable obstinacy, her sheer will in seizing life despite physical difficulties. And even though she wants to respect her mother’s nearly pathological sense of privacy, the woman must come to terms with whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal. This is a book about a writer’s relationship with her larger-than-life mother – but also about the very nature of writing, memory, and art.