Bill Clegg is a literary agent in New York and the author of the bestselling memoirs Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man and Ninety Days. The author of the novels Did You Ever Have a Family and The End of the Day, he has written for the New York Times, Lapham's Quarterly, New York magazine, The Guardian, and Harper's Bazaar.
PRAISE FOR DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY "Masterly...The vignettes
provide deft reprieves, a mosaic of a community and its connection
to the tragedy. And connection--the way people and their lives
fuse--is this novel's main concern."--The New York Times Book
Review
"[Did You Ever Have A] Family melds several grieving voices into a
detailed mosaic of a town split between locals and weekenders, a
mystery in which the stakes really matter, and a recovery story
more original than Clegg's own."--Vulture, "7 Books You Need to
Read This September" (2015)
"Did You Ever Have a Family is the first full-length foray into
fiction for Bill Clegg... but it reads like the quietly assured
work of a veteran novelist.... it's rare to find a book that
renders unimaginable loss in such an eloquent, elegant
voice."--Entertainment Weekly, A- review
"[Did You Ever Have a] Family is a quiet and beautifully written
novel that will keep readers turning the pages.... There is no
resignation here. Rather, Clegg seems to say, it is the courage to
intervene in another's life that defines the notion of family."
--Star Tribune
"A quiet novel of devastating power. Clegg has drawn a tale of
prodigious tenderness and lyricism.... that reveals the depths of
the human heart. [Did You Ever Have a Family] is a wonderful and
deeply moving novel, which compels us to look directly into the
dark night of our deepest fears and then quietly, step by tiny
step, guides us towards the first pink smudges of the dawn."--The
Guardian (UK)
"Bill Clegg's Did You Ever Have a Family limns the far reaches of
grief."--Vanity Fair
"Clegg has produced a moving, clever novel that subtly dissects the
relationships between mothers and their children, lovers, neighbors
and strangers. Did You Ever Have a Family is an unpretentious work
about how a life can be salvaged from the ashes. Bill Clegg is an
author to watch."--The Times (UK)
"Heartbreaking but quietly optimistic, Did You Ever Have a Family
is a rumination on horrific loss, healing, forgiveness, and the
families we choose for ourselves."--Buzzfeed, "19 Awesome New Books
You Need To Read This Fall" (2015)
"In measured prose, Clegg unspools the stories of June and the
other survivors as they face unimaginable horror and take their
first halting steps toward hope and community."
--People
"In this sorrowful and deeply probing debut novel, literary agent
and memoirist Clegg (Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man) delivers
a story of loss and its grueling aftermath . . . it's Clegg's deft
handling of all the parsed details--missed opportunities, harbored
regrets, and unspoken good intentions--that make the journey toward
redemption and forgiveness so memorable."--Publishers Weekly,
starred review
"Like the question it poses, Did You Ever Have a Family is brutally
direct yet it's got an enormous symbolic power. You hold in your
hands a great book of kindness--every restrained, exquisite
sentence comes loaded for bear. It's been a lot of years since a
novel has so moved me. Number Bill Clegg among that endangered
species: major American writer."--National Book Critics Circle
Award-winning author Darin Strauss
"The force, range, and scope of Bill Clegg's Did You Ever Have a
Family will grab you with its opening lines, and won't let go until
its final one. I can't recall another novel that so effortlessly
weds a nuanced, lyrical voice to an unflinching vision of just how
badly things can go for people. I read it deep into the night, all
the way through, telling myself it was getting late, I could finish
the book in the morning. I finished it that night, however, slept a
few hours, and then, in the morning, started reading it
again."--Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham
"I marveled my way through Did You Ever Have a Family, at not just
the masterful writing and storytelling, but at the emotional
authenticities of every persuasion. It's a wondrous thing when a
writer gets things this right, this absorbing, and this beautiful.
Bravo, Bill Clegg, and thank you."--Bestselling author Elinor
Lipman
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