Take What You Need: A Novel

A New York Times Notable Book of 2023 A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, NPR, The Guardian Author Pick, and Today Longlisted for 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize A heart-rending book, but also a beautiful celebration of the glorious pleasure of erecting something new, be it a work of art or a human connection.The Wall Street Journal From one of the finest and bravest novelists at work today, (Vulture) award-winning writer Idra Novey has conjured a novel of astonishing and singular honesty (Rumaan Alam) with two determined, unforgettable female voices. Set in the Allegheny Mountains of Appalachia, Take What You Need traces the parallel lives of Jean and her beloved but estranged stepdaughter, Leah, whos sought a clean break from her rural childhood. In Leahs urban life with her young family, shes revealed little about Jean, how much she misses her stepmothers hard-won insights and joyful lack of inhibition. But with Jeans death, Leah must return to sort through whats been left behind. What Leah discovers is staggering: Jean has filled her ramshackle house with giant sculptures shes welded from scraps of the areas industrial history. Theres also a young man now living in the house who played an unknown role in Jeans last years and in her art. With great verve and humor, Idra Novey zeros in on the joys and difficulty of family, the ease with which we let distance mute conflict, and the power we can draw from creative pursuits. Take What You Need explores the continuing mystery of the people we love most with passionate and resonance, this novel illuminating can be built from what others have discardedart, unexpected friendship, a new contentment of self. This is Idra Novey at her very best.