Elliot Ackerman

Harvard Book Store welcomes acclaimed writer ELLIOT ACKERMAN—author of Dark at the Crossing, a National Book Award finalist—for a discussion of his latest novel, Waiting for Eden. He will be joined in conversation by author and Boston Globe contributor AMY SUTHERLAND.

About Waiting for Eden

Eden Malcom lies in a bed, unable to move or to speak, imprisoned in his own mind. His wife Mary spends every day on the sofa in his hospital room. He has never even met their young daughter. And he will never again see the friend and fellow soldier who didn't make it back home—and who narrates the novel. But on Christmas, the one day Mary is not at his bedside, Eden's re-ordered consciousness comes flickering alive. As he begins to find a way to communicate, some troubling truths about his marriage—and about his life before he went to war—come to the surface.

Is Eden the same man he once was: a husband, a friend, a father-to-be? What makes a life worth living? A piercingly insightful, deeply felt meditation on loyalty and betrayal, love and fear, Waiting for Eden is a tour de force of profound humanity.

Praise

“Gorgeously constructed . . . Unique . . . Both Eden’s and Mary’s fears and foibles are richly explored to create a deeply moving portrayal of how grief can begin even while our loved ones still cling to life . . . Ackerman’s focus on a single family makes the costs of war heartbreakingly clear, as does his drawing emotion and import from the smallest of acts with incredible skill . . . A wonderful novel.” —Alexander Moran, Booklist (starred)

“Ackerman skillfully weaves his story . . . through a surprising, unconventional, and risky narrative strategy . . . Mary and the narrator inhabit a ‘space that is empty and white, waiting for [Eden] . . . We both wonder what will happen to us when he finally goes.’ The poignancy arises out of the fact that they both love Eden in their own way. An affecting, spare, and unusual novel.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)