The Devoted, Blair Hurley
The Devoted, Blair Hurley
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The Devoted
A Novel

Author: Blair Hurley

Narrator: Xe Sands

Unabridged: 9 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/21/2018

Synopsis

A spellbinding confession of what it means to abandon one life for another, The Devoted bristles with psychological and erotic tension.“She comes early, wet with rain, and confronts him in the back hall of the Zendo. ‘I need to know some things,’ she says. ‘You better come in,’ he says, and holds open the door …”Nicole Hennessy’s life revolves around her Zen practice at the Boston Zendo, seeking spiritual solace in the tenets of Buddhism. After a decade of grueling spiritual practice under her master’s tutelage, living on a shoestring as a shop clerk, Nicole has become sexually and emotionally entangled with her mentor. To break free, she must retrace her entire life’s journey—from her strict Irish Catholic upbringing to her drug-fueled year as a teenage runaway. Even as she reinvents herself in New York City, her master’s intoxicating voice pursues her, whispering dangerously in her ear. Somehow, he knows everything.A hypnotic and daring debut, The Devoted asks what it takes, and what you’ll sacrifice, to find enlightenment.

About Blair Hurley

Blair Hurley is a Pushcart Prize winner whose work has appeared in West Branch and Mid-American Review, among other publications. A native of Boston, she now lives in Toronto, where she teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto.

About Xe Sands

Xe Sands has more than a decade of experience bringing stories to life through narration, performance, and visual art, including recordings of the Nightwalkers series from Jaquelyn Frank. She has received several honors, including AudioFile Earphones Awards and a coveted Audie Award, and she was named Favorite Debut Romance Narrator of 2011 in the Romance Audiobooks poll.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Liz on September 02, 2018

Beautifully written story of a woman in thrall to faith and to a manipulative leader. I must say that I found the book disturbing at several points & upsetting because it felt quite close to some aspects of my own experience. The novel and its scenarios rang very true to me though I am not Buddhist.......more

Goodreads review by Belle on April 19, 2019

3.5 stars. When someone cool like Anne Lamott says she’s been reading this book while laying in bed at night, I’m all in. And I was. Except the story never seemed to land. I wanted to like Nicole. But I didn’t feel like I ever got to know the current day Nicole. I wanted to know much much more about......more

Goodreads review by Bonnie on September 06, 2018

his intriguing and fascinating novel examines a young woman's search for spirituality as she also tries to find her personal strength, grounding, and self-knowledge. Nicole was brought up in a religious Catholic family but since she was a pre-teen she felt something missing in her religion. Not only......more

Goodreads review by May on December 27, 2019

I was disappointed to see that throughout this book, despite the main character claiming that she is a "real" Buddhist, unlike other white Buddhists, the author treated traditional Buddhist communities in Tibet and China as terrifying and foreign. All of the main characters in this novel were white,......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on September 10, 2018

Notes: The author is a friend of mine. I listened to the Audible audiobook edition, excellently read by Xe Sands. This is a remarkable first novel, with a very strong narrative voice, well-drawn characters, and a compelling interweaving of incidents large and small through different periods of the pr......more

Quotes

“A suspenseful and warmly engaging coming-of-age story.” Joyce Carol Oates

“Blair Hurley is a gorgeous writer. This novel brims with startling and organic metaphors that fuel, like Zen koans, the heart of a remarkable story.” Anita Shreve, New York Times bestselling author

“Hurley’s outstanding first novel tells an engrossing tale about a young woman seeking a spirituality that can only be found within herself…All lovers of great fiction with complex characters as well as anyone fascinated by narratives about religious cults will want this insightful story.” Library Journal (starred review)

“Quietly chilling…This thoughtful novel carefully untangles the often knotty interconnection between romantic and religious love, revealing the dangers inherent in each without denying their value.” Publishers Weekly

“A thoughtful exploration of faith, surrender, and ecstasy.” Kirkus Reviews

“A sharp-eyed account of the psychological and sexual hold a spiritual ‘master’ can get on a lost young woman…A spectacular debut!” Edmund White, award-winning author of A Boy’s Own Story

“A thrilling, deep, fun, intense look at sex and faith, at East and West, and fraud and truth, at love and what it means to lose love. A remarkable debut, and more: a great read.” Darin Strauss, award-winning author of Half a Life

“The Devoted is a beautifully written story of the seductions of faith, its many desperations both light and dark. A most absorbing and psychologically astute novel that announces Blair Hurley as a brave new talent.” Chang-rae Lee, author of The Surrendered

“Blair Hurley’s first novel is a sharp-eyed account of the psychological and sexual hold a spiritual ‘master’ can get on a lost young woman. What could have seemed like a fable in other hands, in Hurley’s is mordant and convincing. A spectacular debut!” Edmund White, author of Our Young Man

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