Breathe

By: Joyce Carol Oates

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

A novel of love and loss from the bestselling and prizewinning author of Blonde.

Michaela and her husband have moved to the starkly beautiful but uncanny landscape of New Mexico, to take up an academic residency. But when Gerard is struck by a fatal illness, their life begins to resemble a nightmare. At thirty-seven, Michaela must first face the terrifying prospect of widowhood, then the chaos of the days when Gerard is gone.

Haunting and utterly heart-wrenching, Breathe explores the intense madness of grief and what happens when a love cannot be surrendered.

‘A fever dream of a novel’ New York Times

©2021 Joyce Carol Oates (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"The most consistently inventive, brilliant, curious and creative writer going." (Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl)

"Oates is an inspired writer, and a formidable psychologist. She has a thrilling way of grasping an emotion, wasting no time and launching herself straight at the aching heart of the matter." (Independent)

"I stand in awe before such an unresting hunger for the literary endeavour." (Rose Tremain)

"America’s preeminent fiction writer." (New Yorker)

"A raw, propulsive tale of love and grief." (Mail on Sunday)