ABOUT
THE BOOK

Purple America brings us a family in extremis: a son is summoned home to care for his mother, who has long been sick, after she is abandoned by her husband. Over the course of a single weekend night, the son, Hex Raitliffe, sees his good intentions destroyed by a number of opposing forces – not least his own fondness of strong drink. He confronts his stepfather, disturbs the embers of an  old attraction, and tries to accommodate his mother’s demands. What begins as a mission of mercy leads to confusion, debauchery, old wounds reopened and stinging revelations that only a visit home can bring. Rick Moody has written two previous novels and a collection of short stories. The winner of the Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award and the Paris Review’s Aga Khan Prize, he lives in Brooklyn,  New York.