| Rarely
has an author had such an impact on international literature
with her first novel, especially when it focuses on the dark
subjects of rape, child murder, and the dissolution of families.
Yet with The
Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold seemed to manage the impossible.
“My name was Salmon,
like the fish; first name, Susie. I was 14 when I was murdered
on December 6, 1973.” So begins The
Lovely Bones, one of the best-reviewed novels of the decade.
The book quickly became an unprecedented international bestseller,
with translations in over 45 languages and American sales alone
of over five million copies. Three months after the publication
of The
Lovely Bones, Sebold’s 1999 memoir Lucky,
an account of her rape at the age of 18 and the trial that followed,
also rose to number one on The New York Times Bestseller
list.
2007 saw publication of
The
Almost Moon, Sebold's controversial second novel, which
began with yet another gripping first sentence: "When all
was said and done, killing my mother came easily." Another
#1 bestseller, The
Almost Moon generated more critical discord -- both
laudatory and negative -- than any other novel in memory as
Sebold plunged into taboo territories of matricide, mental illness
and profound ambivalence about mother/daughter relationships.
Born in Madison , Wisconsin
, Sebold grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and attended
Syracuse University as well as the University of Houston and
UC Irvine. She has contributed to numerous anthologies and is
currently editing The Best American Short Stories 2009.
A film version of The
Lovely Bones is in production for a 2009 release, written
and directed by Peter Jackson, the Academy Award winning director
of “The Lord of the Rings.”
•••
“Ms. Sebold [has]
the ability to capture both the ordinary and the extraordinary,
the banal and the horrific, in lyrical, unsentimental prose.”
— The New York
Times
”[The Lovely Bones]
is an utterly original and deeply affecting novel, one that…ultimately
creates a form of its own.”
– Maria Russo, Washington
Post
”Sebold takes an enormous
risk in her wonderfully strange debut novel…A stunning
achievement.”
– The New Yorker
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