Absolution – McDermott, Alice – Hardcover

Description

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbsolutionContributor(s):McDermott, Alice(Author)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBinding:Hardcover\n\n\n\nPub Date:October 31, 2023\n\n\n\nA riveting account of womens lives on the margins of the Vietnam War, from the renowned winner of the National Book Award.\nIn Saigon in 1963, two young American wives form a wary alliance. Tricia is a starry-eyed newlywed, married to a rising oil engineer on loan to US Navy Intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a talented hostess and determined altruist, on a mission to relieve the wretchedness she sees all around her. When Tricia miscarries, Charlene sweeps her into a cabal of well-dressed do-gooder American wives. Armed with baskets filled with candy and toys, they descend on hospitals, orphanages, and a leper colony on the coast, determined to relieve suffering, no matter the cost.Sixty years later, Charlenes daughter reaches out to Tricia, now widowed and living in Washington. As the two relive their shared experience in Saigon, they are forced to come to terms with the ways their own lives have been shaped and stunted by Charlenes pursuit of inconsequential good.With a narrative impact that recalls Graham Greenes The Quiet American, Alice McDermott confronts the unresolved mysteries and ironies of Americas tragic interference in Southeast Asia.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n