ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, Parade, Library Journal, Harperâs Bazaar and more
âProfound and affecting.ââChloe Benjamin
âBroken People leads us through the winds of time and memory to offer a riveting portrait of transformation. I am better for having read it.ââJamie Lee Curtis
A groundbreaking, incandescent debut novel about coming to grips with the past and ourselves, for fans of Sally Rooney, Hanya Yanagihara and Garth Greenwell
âHe fixes everything thatâs wrong with you in three days.â
This is what hooks Sam when he first overhears it at a fancy dinner party in the Hollywood hills: the story of a globe-trotting shaman who claims to perform âopen-soul surgeryâ on emotionally damaged people. For neurotic, depressed Sam, new to Los Angeles after his life in New York imploded, the possibility of total transformation is utterly tantalizing. Heâs desperate for something to believe in, and the shamanâwho promises ancient rituals, plant medicine and encounters with the divineâseems convincing, enough for Sam to sign up for a weekend under his care.
But are the great spirits the shaman says heâs summoning real at all? Or are the ghosts in Samâs memory more powerful than any magic?
At turns tender and acid, funny and wise, Broken People is a journey into the nature of truth and fictionâa story of discovering hope amid cynicism, intimacy within chaos and peace in our own skin.