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Short-listed for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and winner of multiple honors, Roxana Robinson’s Sparta is a powerful, deeply human novel about a Marine’s return from war and his struggle to reclaim a sense of self. Conrad Farrell, a Williams College classics major inspired by the ancient ideals of honor and courage embodied in Sparta and the Marine Corps’ “Semper Fidelis,” enlists after graduation and serves four years in Iraq. When he returns home to Katonah, New York, seemingly unscathed, he discovers that the real battle is reentering civilian life. Unable to connect with his family, his girlfriend, or even himself, Conrad finds his once-promising future slipping away as he grapples with invisible wounds and growing rage. With compassion and precision, Robinson captures the profound alienation and emotional toll faced by modern soldiers, crafting what critics have hailed as her finest work—a Best Book of the Year selection by the Chicago Tribune and the BBC, and one of Publishers Weekly’s ten best contemporary war novels.
$5.00