Amity & Sorrow - by Peggy Riley (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A mother and her daughters drive for days without sleep until they crash their car in rural Oklahoma. The mother, Amaranth, is desperate to get away from someone she's convinced will follow them wherever they go: her husband. The girls, Amity and Sorrow, can't imagine what the world holds outside their father's polygamous compound.

Rescue comes in the unlikely form of Bradley, a farmer grieving the loss of his wife. At first unwelcoming to these strange, prayerful women, Bradley's abiding tolerance gets the best of him, and they become a new kind of family. An unforgettable story of belief and redemption, Amity & Sorrow is about the influence of community and learning to stand on your own.

Review Quotes

"Amity & Sorrow is a startlingly original, intelligent and beautiful first novel that I found riveting from page one. I can only wait with great anticipation for what comes next from Peggy Riley."--Michael Connelly, author of The Black Box

"Amity & Sorrow, grace and hope, honor and innocence, bliss and deliverance-all of this from one beautifully nuanced story about the nature of family and the power of faith. I savored every word."--Lori Lansens, author of The Girls

"[An] accomplished, harrowing debut.... Riley's descriptive prose is rich in metaphor.... [and] the haunting literary drama simmers to a boil as it deftly navigates issues of family, faith, community, and redemption."--Ann Kelley, Booklist (Starred Review)

"[A] shimmering first novel.... This delicately stitched, finely patterned and poetic novel suggests there is a tipping point at which human resilience disappears.... Riley has a gift for metaphor that gives this novel loft, and a rhythmic way of swinging from present to past."--Dylan Landis, New York Times Book Review

"A beautiful and terrifying book. Peggy Riley tells a complex and enthralling tale of family love and religious belief with uncommon wisdom, grace, and skill."--Sigrid Nunez, author of The Last of Her Kind

"A literary page-turner.... Her writing is clear, crisp, chilling..."--Reader's Digest

"Fierce and disturbing.... A harsh but compassionate look at nature vs. nurture."--The Washington Examiner

"Fierce and disturbing.... Riley's debut novel is a harsh but compassionate look at nature vs. nurture through the lens of a polygamous cult."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Gripping.... a must-read for book lovers."--Ladies Home Journal

"Harrowing, suspenseful and insightful, this is a stunning meditation on innocence lost and good turned evil."--Donna Marchetti, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Hooks readers from its riveting opening.... What makes AMITY & SORROW so fascinating is Riley's compassionate portrayal of these women...each emotion is captured exquisitely. This novel is not sensationalist, but rather realistic and frightening as it captures the horrors of real-life cults."--Megan Fishmann, Bookpage

A powerful book about hope and redemption, as well as the perils of unquestioned belief and obedience."--SheKnows.com

About the Author

Peggy Riley is a writer and playwright who was Highly Commended in the 2011 Bridport Prize. Her short fiction has been broadcast on BBC Radio and has been published in "New Short Stories 4", Mslexia magazine, and in an app on Ether Books. Her plays have been commissioned and produced off-West End, regionally, and on tour. She has been a festival producer, a bookseller, and writer-in-residence at a young offender's prison.

Originally from Los Angeles, Peggy now lives on the North Kent coast in Britain. She is currently working on her second novel, which will be set in the women's internment camp on the Isle of Man during WWII.