On Sale: Jul 6, 2027
Page Count: 176 pages
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
ISBN-13: 9781454976059

$15.99

$20.99 CAD

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An eerie literary thriller told with devastating control, in which the strength of a married couple’s relationship is tested as their romantic vacation takes a nightmarish turn.

Frank and Janet are, by all appearances, a successful, happily married American couple. But when their should-be romantic trip to Rome, and then to Edinburgh, instead exposes the fault lines in their decades-long marriage—and when Janet mysteriously disappears after a decision to visit a historic Scottish estate—both she and Frank find themselves contemplating what really matters.

A propulsive, read-in-one-sitting story told with emotional tension and pitch-perfect prose, American Innocents will haunt you long after the final page.

Genre:

Fiction Literary

Series:

Singularity

Valerie Martin is the author of twelve novels, four collections of short stories, and a biography of St. Francis of Assisi, titled Salvation. Her novel Property won Britain's Women's Prize in 2003. Her novel Mary Reilly was awarded the Kafka Prize, and was made into a motion picture directed by Stephen Frears. Valerie has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Claremont, California.

SELECTED PRAISE FOR VALERIE MARTIN'S PREVIOUS WORK:

“Few have written so surprisingly, so convincingly as Valerie Martin about sexual obsession and the perverse twistings of the human heart.”
Margaret Atwood
“[Martin’s] writing—so prized and clean limbed—is a marvel.”
Toni Morrison
“[Martin] always produces something unexpected and revelatory.”
Jane Smiley
“Chilling…disturbing…intriguing. A compelling contest of wills between two women…against a chaotic backdrop of black night and leaping torchlight.”
The New York Times
“An enrapturing and ruthless storyteller, Valerie Martin possesses a predator’s ability to mesmerize her prey. . . Martin’s tales of betrayal, obsession, connivance, and failure put the firepower back into art.”
Chicago Tribune
The generosity of Martin’s understanding opens every character to the full, astounding range of human possibility. Her revelations build mesmerizing excitement, a surprising kindness, and an unexpected sanity in the darkness.
The Washington Post Book World
“Brilliantly done—fluently written, vividly imagined, really moving and genuinely, chillingly spooky.”
Daily Mail
“Martin's writing is graceful, controlled and precise…The breadth of Martin's interests are remarkable. She moves around flawlessly in time and space: nothing frightens her.”
Fay Weldon
“A sly and masterly historical novel, written with intelligence and flair.”
The New York Times Book Review
“Martin’s writing is a reward in itself, a wonderful precision-tool. She uses it to chisel at the human condition—and the effect is astonishing.”
Financial Times
“As chilling and satisfying as anything she has written. . . . A fierce and uncompromising book, a bracing and cathartic work of art.”
Chicago Tribune
“A fascinating little gem of darkness.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Powerful. . . . Superb. . . . [Martin] slips into the nineteenth century with the ease of a time traveler.”
The Boston Globe
“Sharply observer…. A strikingly unsentimental voice…. In fewer than 200 pages, Martin is able to summon up historical landscapes her readers have never seen.”
Newsday

Valerie Martin

About the Author

Orange Prize-winner Valerie Martin is the author of eight acclaimed adult novels, including Property and The Confessions of Edward Day. She lives in Millbrook, New York.
Valerie Martin’s niece, Lisa Martin, has worked as an educator and children’s poet and currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Learn more about this author