Millet weaves a satisfying cat and mouse game. Millet has a knack for planting plainspoken, world-weary narrators in otherworldly circumstances, and Anna is one of her sharpest, most intriguingly philosophical creations.- ()

the Pulitzer finalist's philosophical fireworks add layers of energy and mystery.- ()Ī peculiar, stirring thriller. Repare to be surprised by more than plot twists. sneaks in some high-minded themes (the nature of reality, the fragility of human connection) without distracting one iota from the suspense. hypnotic novel of psychological and philosophical suspense.- ()ĭdictive, unsettling. N extraordinary metaphysical thriller from one of America's most inventive novelists.-Laura Miller'Where Is the Voice Coming From?' () This may be her most beguiling and accessible creation yet.-David Wright Unpredictable in the best sense, Millet's eye-opening stories and conceptions are irresistibly interesting. Millet evinces a rare capacity to surprise and fascinate readers. Millet's sense of pacing is acute and her prose is glittering and exact. Millet's fine prose as rich with fresh imagery as it is open-minded to life's hidden possibilities.-Matthew Gilbert () Operating, as always, on multiple levels with artistic panache, emotional precision, and profound intent, Millet transforms a violent family conflict into a war of cosmic proportions over nothing less than life itself.-Donna Seaman ()Ī rare pleasure to read. novel so eerie, so chilling and provocative, that you might find yourself rethinking everything you thought you knew about language, belief, and where our human race might be going.-Caroline Leavitt As his pursuit of Anna and their child moves from threatening to criminal, Ned begins to alter his wife's world in ways she never could have imagined.Ī double-edged and satisfying story with a strong female protagonist, a thrilling plot, and a creeping sense of the apocalyptic, Sweet Lamb of Heaven builds to a shattering ending with profound implications for its characters-and for all of us.

But the longer they stay, the less the guests in the dingy motel look like typical tourists-and the less Ned resembles a typical candidate. When Ned chases Anna and their six-year-old daughter from Alaska to Maine, the two go into hiding in a run-down motel on the coast. Likewise greeted with rapturous praise, Sweet Lamb of Heaven is a first-person account of a young mother, Anna, fleeing her cold and unfaithful husband, a businessman who's just launched his first campaign for political office. Lydia Millet's previous work has been shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet