Description
Vendela Vida- The Lovers:
“From the Acclaimed author of the 2007 New York Times Notable Book Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name comes a stunning novel about the love between husbands and wives, mothers and children.”
Vendela Vida, the author of the critically acclaimed Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, has once again delivered a stunning novel that explores the complexities of love and relationships. In this latest work, Yvonne, a widow and mother of grown twin children, returns to the coastal village of Datça, Turkey, where she honeymooned with her late husband 28 years ago. Hoping to find solace in the memories of a happier time, Yvonne instead finds herself overwhelmed by the past and troubled by her vacation rental’s landlord and his intriguing wife, who seems to have a curious marital arrangement.
As Yvonne struggles to come to terms with her grief and the unexpected challenges of her surroundings, she finds an unlikely ally in Ahmet, a local boy who makes his living as a shell collector. With Ahmet’s help, Yvonne gains new insights into the lives of her adult children and begins to appreciate the beauty of the Turkish coast. However, a devastating accident shatters her newfound peace and throws her life into chaos, forcing her to confront her sense of self and the choices she has made.
With its vivid descriptions of the Turkish landscape and its nuanced exploration of the human psyche, this novel is a powerful meditation on love, loss, and the search for meaning in life. Vida’s prose is both lyrical and precise, capturing the subtle nuances of emotion and thought that make her characters so compelling. Whether you are a fan of Vida’s previous work or a newcomer to her writing, this novel is sure to captivate and move you with its poignant portrayal of the human experience.
About The Books
Vendela Vida is a highly acclaimed author who has written four books that have garnered numerous awards and recognition. Her notable works include “Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name” and “The Lovers.” In addition to her writing career, Vida is also a founding editor of The Believer magazine, a publication known for its insightful and thought-provoking content.
Not only is Vida an accomplished author and editor, but she is also actively involved in promoting and supporting the literary community. She co-edited two collections of interviews, “Always Apprentices” featuring conversations with writers, and “Confidence, or the Appearance of Confidence” featuring interviews with musicians. These collections provide valuable insights into the creative processes and experiences of these artists.
Vida’s talent extends beyond the realm of literature. During her time as a fellow at the Sundance Labs, she transformed her novel “Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name” into a screenplay. This adaptation received the prestigious Sundance Institute/Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, highlighting Vida’s ability to captivate audiences through different mediums.
Vida’s literary achievements have not gone unnoticed, as two of her novels have been recognized as New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Furthermore, she has been honored with the Kate Chopin Award, which celebrates writers whose female protagonists choose unconventional paths. This recognition speaks to Vida’s ability to create complex and empowering female characters.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Vida leads a fulfilling personal life. She resides in Northern California with her husband and two children. Additionally, since 2002, she has been an active board member of 826 Valencia, a nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing young writers and providing them with tutoring and support. Vida’s commitment to fostering creativity and literacy among youth further demonstrates her passion for the written word and her desire to inspire the next generation of writers.
Book Reviews
“Vida’s rich imagery and deep, skillful dives into tangled emotions will keep you riveted.” — Daily Candy Chicago
“There’s a certain genre in fiction; the ‘woman traveling alone in a foreign country when things start to go wrong’ story…not every writer can capture…that sense of impending doom and suspense that is almost Graham Greenish. Vendela Vida has nailed it.” (Rating: 5 out of 5) — Linda Grana, Bookbrowse.com
“THE LOVERS pulls you out to sea with a masterful hypnosis. I was so enthralled by the grief, the sticky and sandy details, and especially the perfect articulation of feminine self-awareness that I didn’t realize how deep I was. I read the last page with a tearful gasp.” — Miranda July, author of NO ONE BELONGS HERE MORE THAN YOU
“Vida shows she’s supremely talented at tracing the drifts of memory and emotion that course through a person…clear, simple prose…An elegant consideration of how death and distance tightens human connections―a big theme that Vida addresses with sure-footedness and charm.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Vendela Vida’s The Lovers is a spare and haunting meditation on how travel can bring us full circle back to the place from which we should have started. I read it over two days and dreamed about it the second night.” — Francine Prose, author of GOLDEN GROVE
“A brilliant, topsy-turvy, twenty-first-century variation on E. M. Forster’s A PASSAGE TO INDIA…Vida creates an atmosphere at once molten and chilling as she deftly exposes the wounding reverberations of timeless conflicts between men and women, parents and children, East and West, appearance and truth.” — Booklist
“Vida is an elegant, droll writer who gets the strangeness and self-consciousness of traveling alone just right….[THE LOVERS] deserves a place right up there beside [Marguerite Duras’s THE LOVER], for it too is a slender and necessary book of great depth and reach.” — Vanity Fair
“Vida’s work becomes clearer and more sophisticated with every book she writes, and THE LOVERS is her best and most disturbing novel yet.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“THE LOVERS is somber, seductive, reflective, and unsettling. All our lives are journeys…[and] hopefully, we shed some of our ignorance along the way. Vida writes―so beautifully!― about this process.” — Washington Post
“[Vida’s] third novel is further evidence that she can fashion characters as unpredictable as they are endearing…[THE LOVERS] is a satisfying, often brilliant portrait of a woman searching for relief from things that will not, she discovers at last with something like acceptance, go away.” — New York Times Book Review
“Quietly provocative, The Lovers explores the perils of self-involvement and the ease with which we destroy one another’s lives.” — People
“Haunting…Vida, a cofounder and coeditor of literary magazine The Believer, has a gift for probing the workings of memory.” — Time Out New York
“Stunning. A masterful meditation on grief and love. The Lovers is a sensational novel from one of our finest writers at the height of her craft.” — Stephen Elliott, author of THE ADDERALL DIARIES
Vendela Vida writes with elegance and economy. In this engrossing novel, she has managed to combine a stingingly acute portrait of grief, a moving meditation on love (both filial and romantic), and a page-turning adventure. — Zoë Heller, author of The Believers
“[Vida] has an eye for understated details that leap from the page and linger in the soul…Vida deftly weaves the power of description into the broader tapestry of Yvonne’s journey…THE LOVERS, slim and transportive, is an invitation to join Yvonne on her journey. It’s worth the trip.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A wise and generous book.” — Aleksandar Hemon, author of National Book Award Finalist THE LAZARUS PROJECT
“A languorous meditation on how accidents of fate shape a life.” — Vogue
“A captivating account of a woman seeking escape and discovering emotional clarity…THE LOVERS is both a meditation on grieving and a gripping page-turner.” — The Daily Beast
“A beautiful, complex journey….Ideal for book clubs…it’s filled with rich, luminous prose, and its deceptively delicate plot and pacing provide ample topics for discussion.” (Rating: 5 out of 5) — Carrie LaGree, Bookbrowse.com
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