The first novel from the acclaimed author of The Great Believers
"Rarely is a first novel as smart and engaging and learned and funny and moving as The Borrower." —Richard Russo, author of Pulitzer Prize–winning Empire Falls Lucy Hull, a children’s librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten-year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. Ian needs Lucy’s help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes. Desperate to save him from the Drakes, Lucy allows herself to be hijacked by Ian when she finds him camped out in the library after hours, and the odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip. But is it just Ian who is running away? And should Lucy be trying to save a boy from his own parents?
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3 books in catalog
Prose narratives examining historical crisis, personal memory, and societal institutions have defined a major strand of contemporary American fiction, notably through acclaimed novels such as The Great Believers. Author Rebecca Makkai crafts intricate stories that connect past tragedies to present-day realities, examining community resilience and individual responsibility.
Born on April 20, 1978, Makkai earned a Master of Arts in literature from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English in 2004. She initially began her writing career while working as an elementary Montessori teacher before transitioning to full-time writing and teaching at the university level. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, she serves as the Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago and teaches graduate fiction writing at Middlebury College, Northwestern University, and the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Makkai's narratives often weave together parallel timelines and complex character networks to explore themes of grief, art, systemic injustice, and moral responsibility. Her works, which have been translated into more than twenty languages, frequently examine how historical moments—such as the 1980s AIDS crisis or past institutional scandals—reverberate through decades of individual lives.
