The Body in Question
A Novel
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Publisher Description
*** NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF THE YEAR ***
From the author of Heroic Measures (“Smart and funny and completely surprising . . . I loved every page” —Ann Patchett), Act of God (“A feat of literary magic”—Booklist) and, with Amy Hempel, The Hand That Feeds You (“An unnerving, elegant page-turner” —Vanity Fair), a spare, masterful novel.
The place: central Florida. The situation: a sensational murder trial, set in a courthouse more Soviet than Le Corbusier; a rich, white teenage girl—a twin—on trial for murdering her toddler brother.
Two of the jurors: Hannah, a married fifty-two-year-old former Rolling Stone and Interview Magazine photographer of rock stars and socialites (she began to photograph animals when she realized she saw people “as a species”), and Graham, a forty-one-year-old anatomy professor. Both are sequestered (she, juror C-2; he, F-17) along with the other jurors at the Econo Lodge off I-75. As the shocking and numbing details of the crime are revealed during a string of days and courtroom hours, and the nights play out in a series of court-financed meals at Outback Steak House (the state isn’t paying for their drinks) and Red Lobster, Hannah and Graham fall into a furtive affair, keeping their oath as jurors never to discuss the trial. During deliberations the lovers learn that they are on opposing sides of the case. Suddenly they look at one another through an altogether different lens, as things become more complicated . . .
After the verdict, Hannah returns home to her much older husband, but the case ignites once again and Hannah’s “one last dalliance before she is too old” takes on profoundly personal and moral consequences as The Body in Question moves to its affecting, powerful, and surprising conclusion.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ciement's intriguing, swift-moving novel (after Act of God) is set in the midst of a sensational murder trial a teenage twin is on trial for murdering her toddler brother, as two jurors engage in a love affair. Moving from jury selection to sequestering, the two jurors spend their days listening to grisly details of the crime, and their nights in furtive lovemaking. Juror Hannah, 52, the protagonist, struggles with her marriage to an 86-year-old. As she continues her torrid affair with Graham, a 42-year-old professor, they vow not to discuss the case. However, when the jury reaches deliberations, Hannah and Graham quickly realize they are on opposing sides, and to make matters worse, fellow jurors are aware of their dalliance. Once the verdict is read, Hannah returns to life with her husband, riddled with guilt over her indiscretion. Unbeknownst to Hannah, things are about to get worse. The case is soon in the headlines again as new information comes to light suggesting the jury convicted the wrong twin. Worse, the judge has received an anonymous note reporting that "two of my fellow jurors had sexual contact," and suddenly, not only does Hannah face the destruction of her marriage, but public, moral outrage over her fling. Ciment expertly toggles between the thrilling twists and turns of the courtroom to the private and personal struggles of marriage and aging. This novel will hook readers with its powerful, magnetic narrative.
