Idaho

Shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize 2018 One family, one day, one inexplicable act of violence – and a lifetime spent trying to make sense of it. That he would remember, that his fingers would do what they were supposed to do even in the midst of his horror, has something to do with the reason Ann loves him. One day, perhaps, everything will be gone from his mind except the click of the tailgate latch, and Ann will love him still. One hot August day a family drives to a mountain clearing to collect birch wood. Jenny, the mother, is in charge of lopping any small limbs off the logs with a hatchet. Wade, the father, does the stacking. The two daughters, June and May, aged nine and six, drink lemonade, swat away horseflies, bicker, sing snatches of songs as they while away the time. But then something unimaginably shocking happens, an act so extreme it will scatter the family in every different direction. Told from multiple perspectives, this extraordinary debut novel from American author Emily Ruskovich is a beautiful, haunting reflection on memory, responsibility and compassion. Already lauded in the US, the San Francisco Chronicle commented ‘you could read Idaho just for the sheer beauty of the prose, the expert way Ruskovich makes everything strange and yet absolutely familiar… she startles with images so fresh, they make you see the world anew. An unforgettable work of lyrical fiction.