The Testing of Luther Albright - by MacKenzie Bezos (Paperback)

About the Book

When an earthquake shakes Luther Albright's Sacramento home, it reveals fault lines and cracks not only in the house he personally designed but in the facade of his family as well. "A sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart."--Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.

Book Synopsis

"A sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart. A sure-footed excavation into the nuances of everyday terror--the kind that turns devotion into despair, trust into treachery, love into loss. Its pull is irresistible." -- Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and author of Song of Solomon

"Quietly absorbing . . . the slow pileup of events takes on unexpected, if mild urgency . . . wholly original and convincing." -- New York Times Book Review

Luther Albright is a builder of dams, a man whose greatest pride (besides his family) is running his hands over the true planes of the house he built himself and knowing that he's constructed something that will shield and shelter them from harm.

A relatively minor incident -- an earthquake that shakes his Sacramento home--reveals fault lines and cracks in the facade of his family. His teenage son's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and threatening, his devoted wife more distant, and then a dam of Luther's design comes under investigation for structural flaws exposed by the tremors. In the midst of his heartbreaking family dissolution, Luther must battle against the need to withhold his emotions and push his family even farther away.

Nightmarish meanings begin to shout at Luther from the most innocent of places as debut novelist MacKenzie Bezos tightens her net of psychological suspense around the reader with bravura skill. In the spirit of Rosellen Brown and Alice McDermott, this is a harrowing portrait of an ordinary man who finds himself tested and strives not to be found wanting.

From the Back Cover

Luther Albright is a devoted father and a designer of dams, a self-controlled man who believes he can engineer happiness for his family by sheltering them from his own emotions.

But when an earthquake shakes his Sacramento home, the world Luther has constructed with such care begins to tilt: his son's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and threatening, his loving wife seems to grow distant, the house he built with his own hands shows its first signs of decay, and a dam of his design comes under investigation for structural flaws exposed by the tremors. Nightmarish connections begin to whisper at Luther from the most innocent of places as debut novelist MacKenzie Bezos tightens her net of psychological suspense around the reader with bravura skill. This is a harrowing portrait of an ordinary man who finds himself tested and strives not to be found wanting.

Review Quotes

"Bezos has produced a rarity: a sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart....sure-footed...compelling....irresistible." -- Toni Morrison

"In her chilling first novel Bezos puts her hero under the microscope. . . . A masterful debut." -- Jane Hamilton, the prise-winning author of The Book of Ruth and Disobedience

"An affecting portrait of a family whose admirable head has one fatal flaw...A self-assured, distinguished debut." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A nuanced, emotionally charged first novel." -- Booklist

"[An] impressive, quietly powerful debut... Bezos captures the extraordinary in the ordinary, revealing a startling talent for naturalism." -- Publishers Weekly

"Bezos refreshingly resists tying the story up neatly at the end. Quietly heartbreaking...just as real life often is." -- BookPage

"Outstanding. . . . Bezos lays bare the inner life of the repressed American Everyman in [an] exquisite, excruciating portrait." -- Entertainment Weekly

"A memorable debut." -- The Sunday Oregonian