Alice McDermott with Amor Towles: Absolution

In her newest novel, Absolution, National Book Award winner Alice McDermott delivers “a moral masterpiece” (Ann Patchett) of the American women who faced down the war in Vietnam. Join her with bestselling author Amor Towles for an evening of conversation on the art of fiction.

Named Best Book of the Year by TIME, Esquire, Los Angeles Times, NPR, and more, Absolution is a riveting account spanning six decades — the story of two American wives on the margins of the Vietnam War — and beyond that, it is a virtuosic moral reckoning with how the decisions of individual human beings fit into the shape of a national history. McDermott’s characters — driven by folly, grace, obligation and sacrifice — are the creations of a master storyteller at the height of her powers.

For decades, Alice McDermott has told stories of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. In this special conversation between two longtime friends and mutual admirers, hear McDermott and Towles on the mysteries of storytelling and the writing of McDermott’s most powerful work to date.

"Alice McDermott has always been one of our greatest writers but here she exceeds every expectation. Absolution is one of the finest contemporary novels I've read. It is a moral masterpiece." ― Ann Patchett

“Elegantly written, immaculately conceived … McDermott is a storyteller who aims for the stars.” — Tim O’Brien