Kirkus Reviews The Borrower →
“Makkai takes risks in her sharp, often witty text… Smart, literate and refreshingly unsentimental.”
“Makkai takes risks in her sharp, often witty text… Smart, literate and refreshingly unsentimental.”
- Publisher’s WeeklyFast-paced, suspenseful, and thoroughly enjoyable
- Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize winning and bestselling author of That Old Cape Magic and Empire FallsRarely is a first novel as smart and engaging and learned and funny and moving as The Borrower. Rebecca Makkai is a writer to watch, as sneakily ambitious as she is unpretentious.
- Kevin Brockmeier, author of The Illumination & The Brief History of the DeadRebecca Makkai takes all the best features of the children’s books her characters love and sweeps them straight into her first novel: their warmth, their vibrancy, their joy at setting their inventions in motion and following them wherever they might lead. She is a generous, original, and arresting writer, and any story she wants to tell, I want to listen.
- Hannah Tinti, author of The Good ThiefRebecca Makkai’s The Borrower is full of books, libraries, cross-country hijinks, accidental parenting, love gone wrong and friendships gone right. Makkai will have you cheering for her librarian heroine, who has all the history and darkness of a Russian novel in her veins, mixed with the humor and spirit of Bridget Jones. A fun, moving, and delightful read.