Beginning Middle End

Synopsis

A mother and her teenage daughter arrive in Sicily after the collapse of their family, hoping distance might offer the possibility of a new beginning. As they settle near the ruins where the narrator's grandmother once worked as an archaeologist, the landscape itself becomes a map of memory, loss, and renewal. Together they navigate the fragile terrain of separation, inheritance, and the stories families tell about themselves in order to survive.

In Beginning Middle End, Valeria Luiselli brings together her signature intelligence, emotional precision, and lyrical prose in a novel that explores motherhood, migration, memory, and the shifting nature of home. Both intimate and expansive, it is a meditation on how lives are shaped by endings as much as beginnings, and another remarkable work from one of the most celebrated literary voices writing today.

About the Author

Valeria Luiselli is a Mexican writer and essayist whose acclaimed works include Faces in the Crowd, The Story of My Teeth, Tell Me How It Ends, and Lost Children Archive. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the American Book Award, the Dublin Literary Award, and numerous other international honours. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages and is celebrated for its blend of formal innovation, political insight, and profound humanity.

Publisher

McClelland & Stewart

Publication Date

July 28, 2026

Format

Hardcover

Pages

368

Subjects

Literary Fiction · Family Life · Women’s Fiction · Contemporary Fiction

ISBN

9780771039485