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Front cover of Arrival (The Indigo Press, 2022)

Arrival

Also in Bulgarian as Пътна връв

Language
English
Publisher
The Indigo Press
Published
24 February 2022
Pages
268
ISBN
978-1911648376
Cover
Luke Bird
Read more on The Indigo Press

An exploration of the ripple effects of domestic abuse on children, ARRIVAL follows the story of a young woman, fleeing her home country and trying to rebuild her life abroad, after suffering domestic violence from an alcoholic father.

Prompted by her therapist, the unnamed protagonist starts processing the abuse experienced in her childhood while also pondering what it means to be a mother when consumed by trauma. The book bends form to accommodate the narrator’s scattered mind and her attempt to assemble a version of herself through fragments and stitches of memories, borrowed conversations and minutiae that linger and haunt.

Despite grappling with heavy themes — trauma, rejection, cultural identity — the narrative is infused with love and determination, and depicts the ways we are resilient, capable of carving our own paths and reimagining our lives. It is holding within it a universal truth – of how our childhood experience affects the way we love, live and make sense of ourselves and others.

Praise

‘I read Arrival in one rapt gulp, urged on by its unnamed narrator’s need to flee her past, escape the confines of womanhood, and the stains of shame and guilt that keep repeating on her, like heartburn. The novel deals in life’s hard knocks, in trauma and deracination, but in langauge that is sensual, languid, feline, snaking with double meaning and sly humour. Like an Sigrid Nunez novel, Arrival seems to be about everything, its canvas expanding and contracting, allowing the story’s particulars to echo far and wide.’

– Marina Benjamin, author of The Middlepause and Insomnia

‘A powerful tale about love, domestic violence, motherhood, escape, and arrival on many levels, written with sensuality and poetic force.’

– Naja Marie-Aidt, author of Carl’s Book

‘Arrival is a book made up of fragments – fragments of love, motherhood, abuse and marriage – which form an intriguing and moving kaleidoscope narrative. A jagged, beautifully written novel which explores the shattering impact of abuse and how the past shapes the present.’

– Sam Mills, author of The Fragments of My Father

Where to order

Other editions and translations are on the Books shelf.