The Half-Life of Remorse

“An often engaging and heartwarming novel…”
Kirkus Reviews

“The true wizardry of The Half-Life of Remorse is how the random intersection of two homeless men evolves into a story of irresistible forward motion, stunning revelations, deepest human complexities and highest consequences. Underwriting this feat is Jarrett’s ability to inhabit his fated characters absolutely, conjuring their voices, their minds, their wounds, their guilt, their haunted and mingled histories, with such spooky fidelity that you feel you are each one of them, and all of them, all at once. Original, gorgeous, exciting and deeply moving, The Half-Life of Remorse put my heart through all the paces.”
―Tim Johnston, author of New York Times bestseller Descent

When two vagrants meet on the streets of Muncie, Indiana, they are both unaware that their paths crossed years before. Chic, crude and uneducated, is convinced that Sam is nothing more than a harmless lunatic, and Sam, emotionally scarred and psychologically traumatized by events long past, regards Chic as just another denizen of the street. But Chic has spent his adult life trying to purge his soul of the brutal crime he committed as a teenager―the same botched burglary that resulted in the deaths of Sam’s wife and son. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter Claire is still unable to give up hope that her father might someday reappear.

When these three lives converge, the puzzle of the past gradually falls together, but redemption commands a high price, and what is revealed will test the limits of love and challenge the human capacity for forgiveness.

Author: Grant Jarrett

Published: May 16, 2017

 

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“An often engaging and heartwarming novel…”
Kirkus Reviews

“The true wizardry of The Half-Life of Remorse is how the random intersection of two homeless men evolves into a story of irresistible forward motion, stunning revelations, deepest human complexities and highest consequences. Underwriting this feat is Jarrett’s ability to inhabit his fated characters absolutely, conjuring their voices, their minds, their wounds, their guilt, their haunted and mingled histories, with such spooky fidelity that you feel you are each one of them, and all of them, all at once. Original, gorgeous, exciting and deeply moving, The Half-Life of Remorse put my heart through all the paces.”
―Tim Johnston, author of New York Times bestseller Descent

“Acts of searing violence transform vulnerable lives in Grant Jarrett’s The Half-Life of Remorse. Through the anguished accounts of survivors who nearly died in that night of violence, and the delusions of one of the survivors who imagines himself capable of magic, Jarrett creates echoes of The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale. This resonant novel traces the lingering effects of trauma and exposes the greatest challenge for its primary characters: self-forgiveness.”
―Lee Upton, author of The Tao of Humiliation

“In The Half-Life of Remorse, Grant Jarrett proves his mastery of narrative voice, unflinching realism, and adroit yet artful storytelling.”
―Mark Wisniewski, author of Watch Me Go

 

About the Author

Originally from northeastern Pennsylvania, Grant Jarrett lived in Manhattan for twenty years before moving to Marin County, CA, where he now works as a writer, ghostwriter, editor, musician, and occasional songwriter. His publishing credits include numerous magazine articles, essays, short stories, and More Towels, his coming-of-age memoir about life on the road. His debut novel, Ways of Leaving, won the Best New Fiction category in the 2014 International Book Awards. The House That Made Me, his 2016 anthology about the meaning of home, was chosen as an Elle “Trust Us” book. Jarrett is an avid cyclist, skier, and surf skier.

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