We Are Called to Rise - Softcover

McBride, Laura

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1471132587 ISBN 13: 9781471132582

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2014

Synopsis

When an ice cream van is stopped at a cross roads, its brake light out, what are the chances its driver will be terrified by the police, his wife unable to communicate her distress as she tries to protect her children?

What are the chances that the brand new police officer on duty will be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, fresh from his third tour in Iraq. That he ll pull out his gun, blinded by memories of war?

What are the chances that the only hope of happiness left to that broken family inside the van will begin with a letter from a man desperate for redemption, to do something good?

And will Bashkim Ahmeti, our eight-year-old hero, let him?

About this title

Review

"Both tense and touching, intimate and global, Laura McBride's debut is a genuinely affecting story of innocence, resilience, and the surprising ties that connect us all. The characters' voices are so real, so raw and human, you will find yourself thinking of them long after you have turned the last page."--Eleanor Brown, author of The Weird Sisters

"With this novel, Laura McBride dismantles the American dream. Set in Las Vegas, our most opulent nowhere, a long-running marriage collapses in a single moment. A boy's family crumbles in a clash of cultures. Soldiers return from bad wars detonated--the pins pulled on their fragile minds. Still, they must all somehow move forward out of these losses, into futures for which they have no assembly instructions. Strength is simply their last available option, they'd rather not have to come up with it. And it is precisely this--the reluctance with which they become their best selves--that makes this such an emotionally powerful story."--Carol Anshaw, author of Carry the One

"It's been a long time since I invested myself as a reader so thoroughly, so hopefully, in a character as I did for the small, young life at the center of this poignant narrative. Laura McBride writes with the foresight and compassion of the best storytellers. Her range of voices and perspectives is as impressive as her ability to plumb the depths of ordinary lives touched by extraordinary circumstances. This is a tender yet urgent entreaty not to scale impossible heights but to rise to the intimate challenge, and to call forth the love needed, to piece together a child's shattered home and heart."--Vaddey Ratner "author of In the Shadow of the Banyan "

"Succeeds brilliantly...one of the finest books of the year."--Patry Francis, author of The Orphans of Race Point

"One of the best books I've read this year. It broke my heart and put it back together. It made me cry, and it gave me hope."--Nancy Thayer

"Here is the powerful story of the way in which war detonates far from battlefields, exploding lives in a single irrevocable moment. Here are unforgettable voices that need to be heard as urgently as this richly imagined story needs to be told. Like a solitary bell We Are Called to Rise reverberated long after I'd put it down. I can't stop thinking about it."--Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress

"Laura McBride's searing and expansive vision will hold you in its
grip from start to finish. Her Las Vegas characters outshine even the
glitz of that city in their fierce humanity."--V.V. Ganeshananthan "author of Love Marriage "

"Laura McBride had me hooked on her novel by page two, the beginning of a roller coaster ride of emotions powered by her gorgeously strong writing. She took me to sorrow and despair and then to the heights of love and forgiveness, where we find our best selves. We are Called to Rise is a powerful, memorable achievement."--Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House

About the Author

Laura McBride is a writer and community college teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada. She once thought of herself as an adventurer, having travelled far from home on little more than a whim and a grin, but now laughs at the conventional trappings of her ordinary suburban life. She's been married for twenty-five years to an expat she met in Paris and has two lovely children. A long time ago, she went to Yale. We Are Called to Rise is her first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1471132587
• ISBN 13: 9781471132582
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320