Synopsis
'Part memoir, part true crime, wholly brilliant' – Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train
'As gripping as a thriller' - Literary Review
When law student Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich is asked to work on a death-row hearing for convicted murderer and child molester Ricky Langley, she finds herself thrust into the tangled story of his childhood. As she digs deeper and deeper into the case she realizes that, despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.
The Fact of a Body is both an enthralling memoir and a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is personal, composed of individual stories, and proof that arriving at the truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.
Winner of a Lambda Literary Award and the Chautauqua Prize
'This book is a marvel' - Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts
'Gripping and fascinating' - Sophie Hannah, author of The Couple at the Table
Details
Reviews
“Compulsive, eloquent and profoundly troubling. One of those rare books which embrace the genuine complexity of real life”Mark Haddon, author of
“The Fact of a Body is excellent. So gripping and fascinating”Sophie Hannah, author of The Couple at the Table
“This book is a marvel. With unflinching precision and immense compassion, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich peels apart both a murder case and her own experience to reveal how we try to make sense of the past. The Fact of a Body is equal parts gripping and haunting and will leave you questioning whether any one story can hold the full truth”Celeste Ng, New York Times bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts
“The Fact of a Body is a remarkable act of witness, an anatomy of silence and the violence it abets, a book of both public and private accountings. Rejecting the false comfort of certainty, it confronts the inadequacy of all our tools for fathoming not just unforgivable crimes, but the baffling, human grace that can forgive them. This is a profound and riveting book”Garth Greenwell, author of Small Rain
