My Name is Venus Black -

Heather Lloyd

Dial Press

2018

368 páginas

12h 16m

ISBN-10: 0399592180

In this riveting, heartfelt debut, a young woman assumes a new name to escape her dark past and find the redemption she desperately seeks.

“A terrific debut, told gently, honestly, and with a generous amount of hope.”—New York Times bestselling author Jamie Ford

Venus Black is a straitlaced A student fascinated by the study of astronomy—until the night she commits a shocking crime that tears her family apart and ignites a media firestorm. Venus refuses to talk about what happened or why, except to blame her mother. Adding to the mystery, Venus’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Leo, goes missing.

More than five years later, Venus is released from prison with a suitcase of used clothes, a fake identity, and a determination to escape her painful past. Estranged from her mother, and with her beloved brother still missing, she sets out to make a fresh start in Seattle, skittish and alone. But as new people enter her orbit—including a romantic interest and a young girl who seems like a mirror image of her former lost self—old wounds resurface, and Venus realizes that she can’t find a future while she’s running from her past.

In this gripping story, debut novelist Heather Lloyd brilliantly captures ordinary lives thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Told through a constellation of captivating voices, My Name Is Venus Black explores the fluidity of right and wrong, the pain of betrayal, and the meaning of love and family.

Advance praise for My Name Is Venus Black

“Lloyd’s debut novel is charming, touching. . . . Lloyd’s extraordinary plot is grounded in the complex, palpable emotions she exacts from her beautifully realized, heartwarming characters. A culminating series of reunions illuminate their richness and humanity as they confront guilt, blame, and forgiveness. Lloyd’s vivid, superbly crafted novel will have wide appeal.”—Booklist

“Lloyd has created a raw, rich character, who won me over completely. Her search for peace and belonging is utterly riveting.”—Amanda Eyre Ward

“Venus is the star of this story, but I also fell in love with all the other characters, many of whom do all the wrong things for all the right reasons. Book groups will want to dive into the novel’s complex, moral dilemmas.”—Anna Whiston Donaldson