Sufferance

(Paperback)

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Description

From the author of the international bestseller The Quincunx

"Palliser's novel shares some superficial similarities with last year's Booker winner,Prophet Song a family in crisis navigating an authoritarian regime but is a more well developed and satisfying work." -The Guardian

Set in Eastern Europe during the Second World War. When his nation is invaded and occupied by a brutal enemy, a well-intentioned man persuades his wife that they should give temporary shelter to a young girl who is at school with their daughter. He has no idea that the girl belongs to a community against whom the invader intends to commit genocide. Days stretch into weeks and then months while the enemy's pitiless hatred of the girl's community puts all of the family in danger. Nobody outside the family can be trusted with the dangerous secret and the threat from outside unlocks a darkness that threatens to derail them all. From the internationally bestselling author of The Quincunx (over a million copies sold worldwide), comes a deeply unsettling psychological novel about the hideous decisions that people are forced to make when living under tyrannical regimes.

Reviews

Sufferance is compulsive reading. It is shocking, gripping. The key is the narrator, the reader's own shadow, and a man who turns out to be unreliable. He is weak and clings to an ambition that becomes daily more unrealistic. This is a story that floats in Everywhere/Nowhere territory, with a few locational clues but ultimately universal--a parable for our times, a cautioning horror story, like the frog in the slow boiler, unaware until its final moments.

--Amanda Hale, author of MAD HATTER

A sinister undertone lurks throughout the narrative, and a real sense of doom overshadows. In the father, Palliser has created a rare character who in turns can be sympathetic and contemptible. His story races to an ending that leaves the reader stunned. This novel will evoke a full range of emotions. An impressive novel not to be missed.

--Historical Novels Review

Palliser skilfully creates a sense of mounting dread and paranoia in a disturbing Kafka-esque parable.

--Neil Armstrong, Mail on Sunday

Sufferance could well become a contemporary classic.

--Peter Carty, The Spectator

The publication is good timing: Palliser's novel shares some superficial similarities with last year's Booker winner, Prophet Song - a family in crisis navigating an authoritarian regime - but is a more well developed and satisfying work. The slow escalation of pressure on its characters up to an extraordinary ending shows the hand of an expert novelist.

--John Self, The Guardian

When so much has been said about the Holocaust, a novel that provides a new perspective is to be welcomed. In Sufferance, Charles Palliser has made that terrible event horrifying but also universalised it and by doing so suggested that it could happen again in any country. The novel conveys the psychological claustrophobia of a family and its unwelcome guest as the murderous trap closes on them, tearing the family apart even as it faces the approaching terror.

--Carol Lee, author of CROOKED ANGELS
"Palliser manages to keep up the tension as his narrative drives to its tragic, unsettling end. A cynical story about how, in the absence of moral courage, terror and self-preservation can also be powerful motivators." --Kirkus

"Palliser's novel shares some superficial similarities with last year's Booker winner, Prophet Song - a family in crisis navigating an authoritarian regime - but is a more well developed and satisfying work." -- The Guardian

"A sinister undertone lurks throughout the narrative, and a real sense of doom overshadows. In the father, Palliser has created a rare character who in turns can be sympathetic and contemptible. His story races to an ending that leaves the reader stunned. This novel will evoke a full range of emotions. An impressive novel not to be missed." -- Historical Novels Review

Sufferance could well become a contemporary classic. -- Spectator

"The simple prose with which the story unfolds only adds to the sinister feel of this skillfully crafted, dark little tale." --What Cathy Read Next

Author Bio

Charles Palliser is an American-born and British-based novelist. He is the author of five previous novel. His most well-known novel,The Quincunx, has sold over a million copies internationally. He is the elder brother of the late author and freelance journalist Marcus Palliser. He lives in London, UK.