WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2019
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019
Latticing one cherry pie after another, an Ohio housewife tries to bridge the gaps between reality and the torrent of meaningless info that is the United States of America. She worries about her children, her dead parents, African elephants, the bedroom rituals of happy couples, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and how to hatch an abandoned wood pigeon egg. Is there some trick to surviving survivalists? School shootings? Medical debts? Franks 'n' beans?
A scorching indictment of America's barbarity, past and present, and a lament for the way we are sleepwalking into environmental disaster, Ducks, Newburyport is a heresy, a wonder - and a revolution in the novel.
"Full of wit and intelligence... and one of the most intriguing, charming and genuinely funny characters I have come across in recent years." THE HERALD
"Is it any good? Oh my word yes. Reading it at this point in time feels like an act of human solidarity, a commitment to a world of truth and reason." THE LITERARY REVIEW
"Extraordinary... astounding... amazing... one of the outstanding books of the century." THE IRISH TIMES
"In her latest novel, Lucy Ellmann doesn't just carry on as before: she doubles up, doubles down, and absolutely goes for broke. (...) Success? Failure? A triumph." GUARDIAN
"A novel that rewards perseverance, is truly unique, and feels like an absence in your life when you finish it." THE OBSERVER
“A masterpiece like no other.” VOGUE
