Marianne is teetering at the edge of reason. A death in the familysends her brilliant academic career and promising future spiraling outof control until resentment towards those who shaped her past leads heron a wild and desperate search for the truth about herself. On theseedy side of New York, she meets Miles, a hip musician busking thestreets and playing low-rent venues in a muddled bid to make his owndreams come true. In her new life, she finds anarchic squalor, homegrown music and poetry, booze, drugs, sex, violence, love, loss, and,above all, exhilarating freedom on her troubled journey from sleep toawakening. This gritty, relentless story unfolds with the same cooldetachment that motivates the central character to peel back the layersof her life and expose the painful scalding within.
Praise and Reviews
"...the drug scenes
are written with an intensity that I have rarely experienced in
literature, or any other medium for that matter. The words and
sentences beautifully drift through this melancholy, but never
hopeless, foggy reality of drug abuse and self-searching and
beauty and longing. The change and growth the protagonist goes
through from the beginning to the end is nothing short of
extraordinary, rendered almost impeccably, and the dialogue
throughout feels as real as those dark shadows that hang out on
that whiskey corner just down the street from my place,
street-talking their way to the next hit, the next kiss, the next
anything...kudos to Magdalena ball , "Sleep Before Evening" is a
beautiful book. quite the accomplishment..."
Tony Nesca, author of "The
Do-Nothing Boys" and "About A Girl"
***
"I thought it was wonderful, a
fascinating and moving story and not only beautifully written but
beautifully crafted in every way, especially in structure and
imagery. Marianne is a striking character, so organically
conceived and so synthetically presented that I felt I knew her
immediately, understood her disintegration, and her really heroic
recovery, knew her and liked her, cared about her, and wanted her
to live and share her wonderful spirit and intelligence."
Felicia Bonaparte,
Professor of English at the City University of New York
***
"The writing is deep
and memorable making the novel a true page-turner. The words are
chosen masterly; the narrative and the imagery are excellent. The
book sounds like the music Marianne wants to compose."
Maressa Zahra,
Moondance
***
"This is a
beautifully written novel. While the subject matter is dark and
unflinching (namely grief,
depression and drug addiction) Magdalena Ball's prose is always
smooth and lyrical. Her characters are well drawn and memorable,
set against a series of contrasting backdrops - suburban America;
high school; the wild freedom of the coast and the seedy underside
of New York life lurking just beneath the cosmopolitan coffee-bar
surface. A joy to read." J Moore,
Writelink
***
"what we have here
is a full-on rush of ambitious literary fiction. That it largely
succeeds as such is no consolation to horny but bookish males
hoping for a bit of fluff or a few chuckles while killing time in
the airport departure lounge...Oh, it’s an artful whipsawing, in
that the narrative respects the rhythms of the reader’s
expectations."
Gerald Everett
Jones,
Boychiklit
***
"Sleep Before
Evening is the story of a brilliant young woman who, after
experiencing a death in the family, abandons the promise of her
academic career for a desperate search within herself. Her new
life is immersed in the dark side of New York, in all its squalor,
booze, drugs, sex, violence, poetry, and original music. Despite
the dangers, she braves morass for its stimulating freedom, and
the opportunity to burrow underneath the layers of her life and
uncover the inner pain that hurts so badly. A haunting and
absorbing narrative of trying self-discovery."
Margaret
Lane,
Midwest Book Review
***
"What a brilliant novel. I started it
on Saturday evening and have just finished it. This is a novel I
won't forget for a long time. It is both a complex novel theme
wise and a page turner. The characters come alive better than
those in many a novel from high grossing authors." Jan
Mitchell, Fellowship of Australian Writers
***
"The author’s control of the story is masterly; her
insight combining with her exceptional narrative skills to write a
story that presents the case of millions of young drug addicts,
right here amidst us."
Ernest Dempsey,
Book Pleasures
***
"Magdalena Ball’s writing, insightful and
deep, engages the reader from page one. Her characters linger long
after the story resolves to its perfect conclusion. Highly
recommended for a glimpse into the motivations behind heroin
abuse, as well as thoroughly alluring family drama, Sleep Before
Evening is powerfully addictive in its own right."
Aaron
Paul Lazar,
http://aaronlazar.blogspot.com/
***
"Magdalena Ball demonstrates her mastery of the musicality of
language and many scenes are imbued with striking imagery...As the
drama coils tighter and tighter, it is this quality of writing
that keeps the reader utterly glued. As Marianne struggles with her
demons and we almost hold our breath as she nears her eighteenth
birthday, Magdalena Ball's Sleep
Before Evening shows us that in order to find yourself, you
sometimes have to lose yourself first."
Cathy Biribauer,
The Rose
& Thorn
***
"Once you start reading Marianne's
tragic story you will not be able to finish. I read this book for 4
straight hours. It was like the story took me over. The book
connects to you the way Thirteen did. It is moving and harsh and
every word seemed true. I thought it was a great read." Bria
Phillips, Book Diva
***
“This is a well written, absorbing and
fast moving coming of age story involving the ugliness and beauty of life.
Marianne at 17 is a very clever girl but also a bit of a loner. When her
much loved grandfather and friend dies she becomes more isolated and
confused with her parents and school. In a year we clearly see the disasters
of the downward spiraling path she follows, and it is a wonder that she
survives. Her sense of self and loss are deeply felt by the reader.
Near the end of the novel she makes the decision to reclaim life and with
the help of love and music matures with wisdom, insight, and conscious
understanding of herself.”
Margaret Broughton, Literary
Fiction Reader
***
"The dialogue is solid
and believable, and the characters live and breathe and scratch themselves.
The drug scenes and the horrors of dependence are especially well-rendered,
but the story is ultimately uplifting and optimistic. It is a triumph of the
soul. Read this book."
Chad Hautmann, author of Billie's Ghost
***
“The writing is
exquisite, without ever calling attention to itself, which is a real feat.
It is a pleasure to read. The pitch is perfect, and the characters are so
beautifully developed and very intriguing."
Joan Schweighardt, author of
Virtual Silence, Island, Homebodies and Gudrun’s Tapestry
***
“Sleep Before Evening is music. Magdalena Ball weaves the
sounds of poetry with an important story, compassionately ‘sung.’
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This is the Place and Tracings,
http://carolynhoward-johnson.com/
***
"This is a good story that makes the reader
feel the highs and lows of Marianne as if they are their own. It reminds me
of the style adopted by the Russian writer Dostoyevsky. He had the ability
to get the reader to feel exactly what his characters felt; a gift Magdalena
ball has too. Sleep Before Evening is a well written insight into human
suffering. The author shows an in-depth knowledge of how to hold readers
attention, and make them eager to know more. This is a debut novel that
shows the author has many more novels inside her, which will provoke strong
emotions in readers of her work."
Warren Thurston, Owner of Pentales,
www.pentales.com
***
“There
is so much beautiful writing here, soaring passages.”
Ruhama Veltfort, author of The Promised Land
***
"I
tend to read novels in one of two ways. If I don't like it, I stop after
about 30 minutes and don't touch it again. If I like it, I can't stop until
I've finished. Sleep Before Evening falls into the latter category for me.
It is a moving, gripping and gritty story of many different kinds of love,
loss and addiction. The sordid world of heroin addiction is set against a
background of chess, poetry, music and art to create a strong storyline. But
the use of language and imagery in this novel are also fantastic."
Sarah James,
http://www.writelink.co.uk/blogs/sarah james
***
"Magdalena Ball's first novel, Sleep
Before Evening, is required reading for aficionados of the school of
confessional writing. While the book is empowered by its conspicuously
female perspective, it somehow manages to transcend the boundaries of
gender and force-feeds the reader with doses of a reality much harsher
than the beatific title suggests. Ball employs the rare literary voice
capable of juxtaposing harrowing experience and work-a-day home life.
She accomplishes this rare feat by traversing twin avenues of
approach, 1) a deceptively mundane accounting of family events and, 2)
a deliberate fracturing of sensibilities unique to, well . . . a David
Lynch film. This reviewer recommends that you procure yourself a copy
of this minor masterpiece while it is still available as a first
edition."
Dr Harry E. Hughes
***
"Sleep Before Evening is a riveting
and fast moving coming of age story dealing both with the attractive
as well as the revolting aspects of anguish suffered by many who have
fragile inner strength to guide them in their search for discovering
who they truly are. Marianne at 17 is intelligent
although she has learned to withdraw into herself as protection
against the craziness of her family peopled with a childish, bemused
pretty self centered mother, absentee father, patient but fed up
stepfather, loss of the grandparents who had provided a steadying rock
to which Mari might cling. Ball presents plausible
dialogue which become at times gritty and tart, well-fleshed
characters who very well may be people we all have known; smiles,
pleasantries, warts, foibles and all. The horrors of dependence and
torpidity of drug scenes are portrayed in stark realism." Molly
Martin,
Book Pleasures
***
"This could be a true story and one many people
may readily face in an intimate family situation and is a touch
poignant at times. But it has a message for us all and an indication
of the author’s ability to weave an intriguing story around the
fragility of a character unable to communicate her own needs when
confronted with life’s pressing issues."
Lyne Marshall,
author of Gleaner or Gladiator: the struggle to create
***
"This is a beautiful,
engrossing novel filled with haunting images and lyrical passages.
Ball has done an excellent job creating her characters' tumultuous
lives...Sleep Before Evening is a riveting coming-of-age novel, one I
highly recommend to the serious reader." Mayra
Calvani,
Blog Critics Books
