Say Her Name

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

In 2005, celebrated novelist Francisco Goldman married a beautiful young writer named Aura Estrada in a romantic Mexican hacienda. The month before their second anniversary, on a long-awaited holiday, Aura broke her neck while body surfing. Francisco, blamed for Aura's death by her family and blaming himself, wanted to die, too. Instead, he wrote Say Her Name, a novel chronicling his great love and unspeakable loss, tracking the stages of grief when pure love gives way to bottomless pain.

Suddenly a widower, Goldman collects everything he can about his wife, hungry to keep Aura alive with every memory. Say Her Name is a love story, a bold inquiry into destiny and accountability, and a tribute to Aura, who she was and who she would've been.

Reviews

Winner of the Prix Femina Etranger
A Best Book of the Year:
"New York Times" Notable
"New York" magazine
"Entertainment Weekly
Boston Globe"
"Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"
"Publishers Weekly"
Barnes and Noble
"The Guardian"
"The Globe and Mail"
"The Daily Telegraph"
"The Independent"
"Sunday Herald"
"The Herald" (Glasgow)
"The Daily Mail"
Shelf Awareness
"Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds--inevitably, unbearably--toward Aura's last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman's beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman's lovestruck gaze, and you can't help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura's absence lingers." --"Entertainment Weekly "(A-)
"A masterpiece of storytelling and scene-setting."--Colm Toibin, "The Guardian "(Best Books of 2011)
"Goldman's searing novel "Say Her Name" is for me the book of the year. . . . A soaring paean to a brilliant young woman and to the infinite invincible power of love."--Junot Diaz, "New York" (Favorite Books of the Year)
"Passionate and moving . . . Beautifully written... the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura's] death . . . than with the miracle of the astonishing, spirited, deeply original young woman Goldman so adored....So remarkable is this resurrection that at times I felt the book itself had a pulse."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"To call Francisco Goldman's book about the death of his young Mexican wife an elegy hardly represents it. Lament is closer, but insufficient. It is a chain of eruptions, a meteor shower; not just telling but bombarding us in a loss that glitters. With the power and fine temper of its writing, it is as much poem as prose. . . . Tense set pieces, respectively heartbreaking and ch
--Winner of the Prix Femina Etranger
--Best Book of the Year:
"New York Times" Notable
"New York" magazine
"Publishers Weekly"
Barnes and Noble
"The Guardian"
"The Globe and Mail"
"The Daily Telegraph"
"The Independent"
"Sunday Herald"
"The Herald" (Glasgow)
"The Daily Mail"
Shelf Awareness
"Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds--inevitably, unbearably--toward Aura's last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman's beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman's lovestruck gaze, and you can't help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura's absence lingers." --"Entertainment Weekly "(A-)
"A masterpiece of storytelling and scene-setting."--Colm Toibin, "The Guardian "(Best Books of 2011)
"Goldman's searing novel "Say Her Name" is for mea
--Winner of the Prix Femina Etranger
--A "New York Times" Notable Book of 2011
--A "Guardian" Best Book of 2011
--A "Globe and Mail" Top 100 Book of the Year
--A "Telegraph" Book of the Year
"Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds--inevitably, unbearably--toward Aura's last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman's beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman's lovestruck gaze, and you can't help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura's absence lingers." --"Entertainment Weekly "(A-)
"A masterpiece of storytelling and scene-setting."--Colm Toibin, "The Guardian "(Best Books of 2011)
"Passionate and moving . . . Beautifully written... the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura's] death . . . than with the miracle of the astonishing, s
--Winner of the Prix Femina Etranger
--A "Telegraph" Book of the Year
"Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds--inevitably, unbearably--toward Aura's last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman's beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman's lovestruck gaze, and you can't help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura's absence lingers." --"Entertainment Weekly "(A-)
"Passionate and moving . . . Beautifully written... the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura's] death . . . than with the miracle of the astonishing, spirited, deeply original young woman Goldman so adored....So remarkable is this resurrection that at times I felt the book itself had a pulse."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"To call Francisco Goldman's book about the death ofn
--Winner of the Prix Femina Etranger
"Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds--inevitably, unbearably--toward Aura's last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman's beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman's lovestruck gaze, and you can't help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura's absence lingers." --"Entertainment Weekly "(A-)
"Passionate and moving . . . Beautifully written... the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura's] death . . . than with the miracle of the astonishing, spirited, deeply original young woman Goldman so adored....So remarkable is this resurrection that at times I felt the book itself had a pulse."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"To call Francisco Goldman's book about the death of his young Mexican wife an elegy hard
"Quietly devastating . . . Powerful . . . As the story builds--inevitably, unbearably--toward Aura's last day, Goldman has so convincingly brought her to life that her death still somehow comes as a shock. . . . Goldman's beautifully written, deeply felt ode to his wife . . . lets you meet this unusual woman through Goldman's lovestruck gaze, and you can't help falling for her a little too. Even after the book ends, the sting of Aura's absence lingers." --"Entertainment Weekly "(A-)
"Passionate and moving . . . Beautifully written... the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura's] death . . . than with the miracle of the astonishing, spirited, deeply original young woman Goldman so adored....So remarkable is this resurrection that at times I felt the book itself had a pulse."--"The New York Times Book Review"
"To call Francisco Goldman's book about the death of his young Mexican wife an elegy hardly represents it. Lament is closer, but insu
"Passionate and moving....beautifully written... the truth that emerges in this book has less to do with the mystery of [Aura's] death...than with the miracle of the astonishing, spirited, deeply original young woman Goldman so adored....So remarkable is this resurrection that at times I felt the book itself had a pulse."--Robin Romm, "The New York Times Book Review" (Front cover)
"Wrenching...The story moves inexorably toward [Aura's] death, but along the way it beautifully preserves the mementos of her life...touched with essential and painful wisdom about love."--Sam Sacks, "Wall Street Journal"
"To call Francisco Goldman's book about the death of his young Mexican wife an elegy hardly represents it. Lament is closer, but insufficient. It is a chain of eruptions, a meteor shower; not just telling but bombarding us in a loss that glitters. With the power and fine temper of its writing, it is as much poem as prose.... Tense set pieces, respectively heartbreaking and chil

Author Bio

Francisco Goldman is the author of three novels: The Long Night of White Chickens which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award; The Ordinary Seaman, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and The Divine Husband. His non-fiction work The Art of Political Murder: Who killed the Bishop was a Best Book of the Year for The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and The Economist in 2007. Goldman has been a contributing editor for Harper's magazine and his fiction, journalism and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Esquire and The New York Times Magazine.