Gabriel Tallent knows his book 'My Absolute Darling' is painful to read. For him, that's the point.

Author Gabriel Tallent has a theory about literature: "I think good books ask us to be courageous readers."

It's an apt suggestion, especially with his debut novel My Absolute Darling.

The book follows a 14-year-old girl, Turtle Alveston, who lives in northern California as she struggles to escape the abuse she suffers at the hand of her father. But if there is one characteristic about My Absolute Darling that stands out, it's the novel's unflinching, often painful-to-read look at violence, which often requires courage from the reader as the book confronts such scenes head on. And for Tallent, that's the point. Read more...

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