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An Unremarkable Body
On sale
14th December 2017
Price: £14.99
***Shortlisted for the Costa Best First Novel Award 2018***
EVERY MOTHER IS A WOMAN WITH A PAST
‘A haunting debut about grief, loss and motherhood’ The Pool
‘An intriguing tale of love, loss and missed opportunities . . . written with verve and delivers an amazing twist’ Sunday Mirror
‘Tender and moving, this part-thriller, part-memoir will leave you floored’ Emerald Street
When Katharine is found dead at the foot of her stairs, it is the mystery of her life that consumes her daughter, Laura.
The medical examiner’s report, in which precious parts of Katharine’s body are weighed and categorised, motivates Laura to write her own version of events; to bear witness to the unbearable blank space between each itemised entry.
It forces her to confront a new version of the woman she knew only as her mother – a woman silenced by her own mother, and wronged by her husband. A woman who felt shackled by tradition and unable to love freely.
With the heart of a memoir and the pace of a thriller, An Unremarkable Body reveals an overwhelming desire to make sense of an unfulfilled life – and to prove that an unremarkable body does not mean an unremarkable life.
‘Beautiful, sensitive, and poignant‘ Clarissa Goenawan, author of Rainbirds
‘Spare, confident and affecting. A compelling read’ Joanna Barnard, author of Precocious and Hush Little Baby
‘An incredibly moving story of maternal love, sacrifice, and how little we know those closest to us’ Chloë Mayer, author of The Boy Made of Snow
EVERY MOTHER IS A WOMAN WITH A PAST
‘A haunting debut about grief, loss and motherhood’ The Pool
‘An intriguing tale of love, loss and missed opportunities . . . written with verve and delivers an amazing twist’ Sunday Mirror
‘Tender and moving, this part-thriller, part-memoir will leave you floored’ Emerald Street
When Katharine is found dead at the foot of her stairs, it is the mystery of her life that consumes her daughter, Laura.
The medical examiner’s report, in which precious parts of Katharine’s body are weighed and categorised, motivates Laura to write her own version of events; to bear witness to the unbearable blank space between each itemised entry.
It forces her to confront a new version of the woman she knew only as her mother – a woman silenced by her own mother, and wronged by her husband. A woman who felt shackled by tradition and unable to love freely.
With the heart of a memoir and the pace of a thriller, An Unremarkable Body reveals an overwhelming desire to make sense of an unfulfilled life – and to prove that an unremarkable body does not mean an unremarkable life.
‘Beautiful, sensitive, and poignant‘ Clarissa Goenawan, author of Rainbirds
‘Spare, confident and affecting. A compelling read’ Joanna Barnard, author of Precocious and Hush Little Baby
‘An incredibly moving story of maternal love, sacrifice, and how little we know those closest to us’ Chloë Mayer, author of The Boy Made of Snow
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Reviews
An Unremarkable Body is a well-crafted story of grief and loss. Beautiful, sensitive, and poignant
An elegant, haunting book with a flawed narrator, troubled relationships, and a mystery at the heart . . . Lodato's writing is spare, confident and affecting. A compelling read
An incredibly moving story of maternal love, sacrifice, and how little we know about those closest to us. This beautifully-written novel had me gripped until the last page
Lodato's skill is that of Katharine's pathologist; precise, delicate and thorough. A tender dissection of brutal truths
AN UNREMARKABLE BODY is clever, evocative and sensitively written. There's so much to love about this book. These characters will creep into your thoughts
A sensitive examination of a life frustrated by mores and circumstance
This novel pulls you in and will have you racing to reach the end
A beautifully told tale of love and loss, which ever so gently reaffirms that no life is indeed unremarkable . . . Lodato probes the secrets that are scattered through one character's life and draws us into her world . . . absorbing and compelling . . . startlingly bittersweet . . . I couldn't stop reading and now I'm done I wish I could read it all over again
Tender and moving, this part-thriller, part-memoir will leave you floored
A haunting debut about grief, loss and motherhood - and a woman's identity beyond that role
An intriguing tale of love, loss and missed opportunities . . . although infused with sadness, it is written with verve and delivers an amazing twist
An Unremarkable Body is infused with sadness but avoids being morbid or cloying. It is written with verve, pace and sensitivity. A fabulous debut that also delivers an amazing twist as a final flourish
Pleasingly distinct . . . the structuring of the chapters by means of an introductory extract from the autopsy report is a rather ingenious one . . . . this organizational quirkiness sets Lodato's work apart from the start . . . a novel that shows notable promise . . . . I'm already intrigued to see what Lodato writes next
An uplifting story
Extraordinarily sensuous storytelling that makes the reader's heart ache in sympathy