Lamb
Recovering from his failed marriage and the loss of his father, David Lamb is
depressed and struggling with his paradoxical nature; he is deeply self-centered and
mendacious yet oddly sensitive and reflective. Upon a chance meeting with an awkward,
outcast eleven-year-old girl, Tommie, David convinces himself that he can elude the
destructive fate that awaits her from a childhood lacking direction, and in the process,
redeem himself through his supposed act of good will. What develops is a compelling
and unsettling story of friendship, love, and manipulation set against the feuding
landscapes of urban decay and the promise of the American West. Of this brilliant and
harrowing debut, Aimee Bender raves, “Bonnie Nadzam manages to write gorgeous
prose about people and sky and mountains while still creating tension and suspense on
the level of a thriller, while also walking us into complex and delicate and unsettling
moral territory with brilliant subtlety and insight. Lamb is a remarkable debut, by a writer
to watch.”
