100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Overnight NZ-wide Delivery πŸš€ Thank you for supporting our 100% NZ-owned store ❀️

May We Be Forgiven

Series: Best of Granta
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes explores the chaotic aftermath of a violent incident between two brothers, delving into themes of redemption and family dysfunction. The novel follows Harold's journey as he navigates unexpected responsibilities and tries to rebuild his life amid turmoil and guilt. It's a darkly comedic examination of modern American life and personal transformation.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate a darkly comic yet poignant exploration of suburban family dynamics gone awry. Fans of character-driven stories filled with unexpected twists and audacious humour will find this novel particularly engaging, as it tackles themes of personal redemption and the chaos of modern life.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Included in the BEST OF GRANTA launch list for 2023: an iconic satire of contemporary America and WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013, in which a momentary loss of control catapults two vying brothers into new lives, wherein loyalties are tested and families crumble.

Included in the BEST OF GRANTA launch list for 2023: an iconic satire of contemporary America and WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013, in which a momentary loss of control catapults two vying brothers into new lives, wherein loyalties are tested and families crumble.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

Reads like a brilliant miniseries ... has the narrative intensity of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and the emotional punch of Siri Hustvedt's What I Loved. β€” Observer

Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his taller, smarter, and more successful younger brother George acquire a covetable wife, two kids, and a beautiful home in New York City. But Harry also knows his brother has a murderous temper. When George loses control, the result is an act of violence so shocking that both brothers are hurled into entirely new lives, in which they both must seek absolution.

Suddenly, Harry finds himself playing parent to his brother's two adolescent children, tumbling down a rabbit hole of online sex, and dealing with ageing parents who move through life like travellers on a fantastic voyage. He is forced to confront the ways in which our histories can either compel us to repeat our mistakes or become the catalyst for change.

May We Be Forgiven is a darkly funny tale exploring how one deeply fractured family might begin to put itself back together.

An unflinching account of a catastrophic, violent, black-comic, transformative year in the history of one broken American family. Flat-out amazing β€” Salman Rushdie

Series: Best of Granta

View all
  • Somewhere Towards The End
    There is a sense throughout Athill's work that you are making a new friend as much as reading a new story... a delight to read. Observer WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY PRIZE, the moving and witty memoir on what it means to grow old. Written in her nineties, when she was free from any inhibitions she may have once had,...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • May We Be Forgiven
    WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION Reads like a brilliant miniseries ... has the narrative intensity of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and the emotional punch of Siri Hustvedt's What I Loved. β€” Observer Harold Silver has spent a lifetime watching his taller, smarter, and more successful younger brother George acquire a covetable wife, two kids, and a beautiful home...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Do Not Say We Have Nothing
    A moving and extraordinary evocation of the 20th-century tragedy of China... compelling β€” Guardian SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION AND THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE In Canada in 1991, ten-year-old Marie and her mother invite a guest into their home. Ai-Ming has fled China in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests. As her relationship with Marie deepens, Ai-Ming...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Sisters Brothers
    The Sisters Brothers is shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It is a darkly funny, offbeat western about a reluctant assassin and his murderous brother. The Sisters Brothers confirms deWitt as one of the most talented young writers around. Sunday Times Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. Across 1000 miles of Oregon desert, his assassins, the notorious Eli and...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Convenience Store Woman
    The unexpected international bestseller. Meet Keiko. She's 36 years old, has never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years. Keiko's family wishes she'd get a proper job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married. But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone come between her and...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • Strange Weather in Tokyo
    A tale of modern Japan and old-fashioned romance. 'Enchanting, moving and funny in equal measure, this compelling love story is expertly crafted against a backdrop of modern Japanese culture' Stylist Tsukiko is in her late 30s and living alone when one night she happens to meet one of her former high school teachers, 'Sensei', in a bar. He is at...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Straw Dogs
    Powerful and brilliant ... Straw Dogs challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be human, and convincingly shows that most of them are delusions.' - J. G. Ballard From Plato to Christianity, from the Enlightenment to Nietzsche, the Western tradition has been based on arrogant and erroneous beliefs about human beings and their place in the world. In...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Ghost Wall
    I love this book. Put your life on hold while you finish it – Maggie O'Farrell A suspenseful and chilling novel of haunted landscapes and a teenage girl in danger. Seventeen-year-old Silvie is camping in rural Northumberland with her father and a group of archaeologists, who are attempting to uncover evidence of human sacrifice. As Silvie glimpses the possibility of...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Dept. of Speculation
    They used to send each other letters. The return address was always the same: Dept. of Speculation. They used to be young, brave, and giddy with hopes for their future. They got married, had a child, and skated through all the small calamities of family life. But then, slowly, quietly something changes. As the years rush by, fears creep in...
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Men Explain Things to Me
    A landmark, incendiary collection from one of the leading essayists working today. Inspiring everyone from radical activists to BeyoncΓ© Knowles, Rebecca Solnit's essay Men Explain Things to Me has become a touchstone of the feminist movement and established her as one of the leading thinkers of our time. Here it is collected along with the best of Solnit's feminist writings....
    Paperback
    $2799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Wild Places
    'A wonderful evocation of Britain's natural beauty and a reminder of our need to connect with the wilderness' The Times Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? Or have we farmed and built ourselves out of wildness? From forest to moor, mountain to saltmarsh, Robert Macfarlane explores the wild places of Britain to see the wonders...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Vegetarian
    WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 'A strange, painfully tender exploration of the brutality of desire indulged and the fatality of desire ignored... Exquisite.' Eimear McBride Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary peopleβ€”dutiful wife and mild-mannered office worker. One day, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares, Yeong-hye decides to become a vegetarian. But in South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics have praised May We Be Forgiven for its blend of dark humour, narrative intensity, and complex characterisation. The novel offers a satirical and often brutally honest examination of American society, interweaving themes of violence, family, and the pursuit of the American dream. With comparisons to works like Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and noted for its wit and emotional depth, the book has been described as both hilarious and harrowing, leaving a lasting impact on readers.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781803510033

Publisher: Granta Publications Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 August 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Granta Publications Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 28.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 337g

Pages: 496

About the Author

A.M. Homes is the author of the novels May We Be Forgiven, which won the Women's Prize in 2013, This Book Will Save Your Life, a Richard and Judy pick in 2007, The Unfolding, Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers and Jack, three collections of short stories, Days of Awe, Things You Should Know and The Safety of Objects, and the acclaimed memoir The Mistress's Daughter, as well as the travel memoir Los Angeles. A Washington D.C. native, she currently teaches at Princeton University and lives in New York City.

Also by A.M. Homes

View all
  • May We Be Forgiven
    Harry Silver, a Richard Nixon scholar, leads a quiet, controlled life defined by routine and scholarly pursuits. His brother George, a high-powered television producer, contrasts this with a volatile, high-stakes existence marked by professional success and a dangerously mercurial temper. The two brothers have been locked in a contentious rivalry since childhood. This uneasy balance is shattered when George's explosive...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The End Of Alice
    The End of Alice treads the wafer-thin line between the evil and the everyday, following the correspondence of two paedophiles. One, the narrator, is a child-killer serving his twenty-third year in prison. The other, his seemingly sweet admirer, is a nineteen-year-old woman intent on seducing a young neighbourhood boy. Teetering on the knife's edge between the American Dream and the...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Days of Awe
    From the winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction-winning May We Be Forgiven. A.M. Homes returns with signature humour and psychological accuracy, to tell thirteen stories exposing the heart of an uneasy 21st-century America. In tales of a family obsessed with the surfaces of their lives, or the story of a shopper who suddenly finds himself nominated to run for...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Unfolding
    The Big Guy loves his family, money, and democracy. Undone by the results of the 2008 Presidential election, he taps a group of like-minded men to reclaim their version of America. As they build a scheme to disturb and disrupt, the Big Guy also faces turbulence within his family and must take responsibility for his past actions. For his wife...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • This Book Will Save Your Life
    Richard is a modern-day everyman, a middle-aged divorcee trading stocks out of his home in Los Angeles who needs no one. His life has slowed almost to a standstill until two incidents conspire to hurl him back into the world. One day he wakes up with a knotty cramp in his back, which rapidly develops into an all-consuming pain. At...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

More from General Fiction

View all
  • The Wedding People
    'BEST READ OF THE YEAR SO FAR' THE TIMES 'BOOKS AS FUN AS THIS ONE ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN' GUARDIAN Phoebe Stone arrives at a grand beachside hotel in Rhode Island wearing her best dress and least comfortable shoes. Immediately she is mistaken for one of the wedding people β€” but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (3)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Throne of Glass Box Set (Paperback)
    Enter the realm. Unleash the darkness. Live the legend. Discover the worldwide phenomenon of the #1 New York Times-bestselling Throne of Glass series in this gorgeous 8-book box set! In a land without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She has no love for the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass, but she has not...
    Set
    $12400
    Elsewhere:
    $15500
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Goal
    Welcome to Briar U!Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy!Read The Goal now for the perfect forced proximity romance! She's good at achieving her goals . . . College senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Yesteryear
    A BOLD AND BITING SATIRE. WILL HAVE YOU GASPING TO THE FINAL PAGE β€” Nita Prose WICKEDLY FUNNY, BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND FRIGHTENINGLY PERCEPTIVE β€” Abigail Dean INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE β€” Ashley Audrain SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR AND LACED WITH DARKNESS β€” Clare Mackintosh The Stepford Wives meets The Handmaid's Tale β€” Hannah Deitch My name was Natalie Heller...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    The Ballad of Falling Dragons [Special Deluxe edition]
    The No.1 Sunday Times bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched continues with the second book in The Moonfall Series, The Ballad of Falling Dragons… Raeve’s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor – a staunch beacon from a past she’s yet to face. With Rekk’s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the...
    Hardback
    $5999
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Score
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession... Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Score now for the perfect friends with benefits romance! He knows how to score, on and off the ice... Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn't have...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Theo of Golden
    THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING PHENOMENON'For anything to be truly good, there must be love in it. Nothing is what it's supposed to be if love is not at the core.' One morning, a stranger arrives in the town of Golden. No one knows who he is or where he came from…His name is Theo and he's arrived there by chance –...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (5)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Mistake
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from The Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Mistake now for the perfect second chance romance! He's a player in more ways than one . . . College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants....
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Carl's Doomsday Scenario
    Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat Princess Donut as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series -now with bonus material exclusive to the print edition Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They've already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever...
    Hardback
    $4699
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Project Hail Mary
    Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of The Martian, offers a gripping new adventure in hard science fiction. With endorsement from notable figures such as Barack Obama and a slew of five-star reviews, this novel promises a thrilling and intellectually stimulating journey. Ryland Grace, a lone astronaut, finds himself on a...
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    (4)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    On Mystic Lake
    One of the greatest storytellers of our time - Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing Annie Colwater's only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie...
    Paperback
    $3100
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Legacy
    Welcome to Briar U! Get ready for your newest obsession . . . Discover the addictive world of the Off-Campus series from the Queen of Hockey Romance, Elle Kennedy! Read The Legacy now for the much-anticipated answer to the question: Where are they now? Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduation . . . A wedding....
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.