The Keepsake

Published in 1994, Kirsty Gunn's debut novel, Rain, was greeted with accolades and firmly established her as an important new voice in literary fiction. The New York Times Book Review called Rain "an exquisitely written first novel", and the New Yorker wrote that "Gunn's language seduces the reader". In The Keepsake, she exceeds the expectations her first work established for her. Written in Gunn's unmistakable and melodic prose, this is a haunting and unforgettable novel about a lifetime of secrets that bind the relationship between a mother and her daughter.In hypnotic and mesmerizing language, Gunn explores the disturbing world of a girl who is returning again and again in dream and imagination to the closed doors of her childhood and the secrets of her mother's lost love. Raised on her mother's stories of happiness with a father she has never known, the younger woman is drawn into and begins to relive her mother's cycle of pain, abandonment, and desire. Gunn has crafted a shocking portrait of a young woman whose life is threatening to collapse under the weight of her mother's past.This is an irresistible story about family love, violence, and the power of storytelling that will confirm Gunn's unquestionable ability.