A Little Life

Hanya Yanagihara’s deft depiction of heartbreak becomes a dark examination of the tyranny of memory and the limits of human endurance.

In middle life, and by degrees, an enigmatic, brilliant and terrifyingly talented litigator becomes an increasingly broken man. Despite his successful career, his mind and body remain deeply scarred by an unspeakable childhood. He becomes progressively more haunted by what he suspects is a degree of trauma he cannot overcome, and that he fears will define his life forever.

"...A Little Life becomes a surprisingly subversive novel—one that uses the middle-class trappings of naturalistic fiction to deliver an unsettling meditation on sexual abuse, suffering, and the difficulties of recovery. And having upset our expectations once, Yanagihara does it again, by refusing us the consolations we have come to expect from stories that take such a dark turn."  -   Jon Michaud, The New Yorker

Shortlisted for the 2016 Women's Prize For Fiction; Winner of the 2015 Kirkus Prize For Fiction

Hanya Yanagihara is an American novelist, editor, and travel writer. Her novel A Little Life was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize. She was born in California, has lived in Hawaii and Texas, and now lives in New York City. In 2016, she joined the PEN America Board, and is the Editor-in-Chief of the New York Times Style Magazine.