A sublime gift MEG MASON A taut, ground-breaking new novel about a writer's relationship with her larger-than-life mother - and about the very nature of writing. Ten months after her mothers death, the narrator of The Hero of This Book walks across London on a quiet Sunday. The city was a favourite of her mothers, and as the narrator wanders the streets, she finds herself recalling all that made her complicated mother extraordinary. Even though the woman, a writer, wants to respect her mothers nearly pathological sense of privacy, she must decide whether making a chronicle of this remarkable life constitutes an act of love or betrayal. * A New Yorker, Time, Washington Post, Oprah Daily and NPR Book of the Year * I absolutely loved it. A moving portrayal of daughterhoodsuffused with warmth and love MEGAN HUNTER, author of The Harpy Confirms McCracken as among the finest contemporary chroniclers of everyday life wonderful GUARDIAN Tender, funny, heartbreaking a writer who always delights RUMAAN ALAM, author of Leave the World Behind