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We Sinners
This stunning debut novel tells the moving story of a family of eleven in the American Midwest, bound together and torn apart by their faith
The Rovaniemis and their nine children belong to a deeply traditional church (no drinking, no dancing, no TV) in modern-day Michigan. A normal family in many ways, the Rovaniemis struggle with sibling rivalry, parental expectations, and forming their own unique identities in such a large family. But when two of the children venture from the faith, the family fragments and a haunting question emerges: Do we believe for ourselves, or for each other? Each chapter is told from the distinctive point of view of a different Rovaniemi, drawing a nuanced, kaleidoscopic portrait of this unconventional family. The children who reject the church learn that freedom comes at the almost unbearable price of their close family ties, and those who stay struggle daily with the challenges of resisting the temptations of modern culture. With precision and potent detail, We Sinners follows each character on their journey of doubt, self-knowledge, acceptance, and, ultimately, survival. -
PRESS AND REVIEWS
“Remarkably funny…it’s impossible not to like these characters.” LA Times Book Review
“…The questions about faith — how it binds the family together but also mutates and divides it — elevate it beyond the confines of the traditional domestic novel and into a resonant and magical work of imagination.” —The Chicago Tribune (Editor’s Choice)
"We Sinners is the rare mainstream novel that treats faith with respect and subtlety, conveying both its power and pull." —USA Today
“A nuanced portrait of an unnuanced world.” — The New York Times
“A beautiful, understated novel. [Pylväinen] tells a sophisticated, precise story about the nature and need for rebellion, set off against our need to belong.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
It’s always a good thing when one wants more instead of less. Lovely, lyrical debut novel of a family in slowly unfolding crisis. — Kirkus Reviews
From the first sentence, I absolutely could not put down We Sinners (Holt, Aug.) until I turned the last page. …Characters who could be painted in grand strokes as villains or angels are small, fragile, and very human. We Sinners brilliantly, unforgettably reconfigures Tolstoy’s adage about happy and unhappy families: “happy and unhappy, every family is.” —Publishers Weekly
“[A] spare, quietly devastating novel.” —The Boston Globe
“In We Sinners, Pylvainen deftly explores this dance between oppression and liberation, between belief and unbelief, and shows the gray areas…Often we search for forgiveness. This novel shows that sometimes it’s found in strange places.” —Wichita Eagle
“The beauty of We Sinners lies in its extraordinary ordinariness.” —Washington Independent Review of Books
Pylväinen’s straightforward but gripping storytelling and fully developed characters make it clear that this new voice in literature is one to watch. —BookPage
“A powerful and unforgettable debut.” —Library Journal (Starred)
“Hanna Pylväinen's We Sinners is not only beautiful and heartbreaking, it is important--for what it says about faith, family, and for the humane light it sheds on the cultural fissures that affect every American. This is a book that reminds the reader, on every page, of the uniquely illuminating power of fiction.” —Meghan O'Rourke, author of The Long Goodbye and The Invisible Kingdom
Pylvainen draws us close to the characters in her little-known denomination, and then, just as their lives become poignantly familiar, her austerely beautiful prose tilts the everyday towards a quiet profundity. These are stories of a faith, to be sure, but also of faith more broadly - faith in family, in community, in ourselves - and of the challenges that beset it. The book itself is a testament to yet another faith: in the abiding power of fiction to illuminate our lives. We Sinners is one of the most distinctive debuts in years, and marks the arrival of a talent to cherish. —Peter Ho Davies, author of The Welsh Girl