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About The Book

“Absorbing...poignant, often heartbreaking...Schwarz is a vivid storyteller.” –The New York Times Book Review

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drowning Ruth vividly evokes the perennially fascinating true crime love affair of Bonnie and Clyde in this suspenseful, gorgeously detailed fictional portrait of Bonnie Parker, one of America’s most enigmatic women.

Born in a small town in the desolate reaches of western Texas and shaped by her girlhood in an industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Dallas, Bonnie Parker was a natural performer and a star student. She dreamed of being a movie star or a singer or a poet. But her dramatic nature, contorted by her limited opportunities and her overwhelming love for Clyde Barrow, pushed her into a course from which there was no escape but death.

Infusing the psychological acuity of literary fiction with the relentless pacing of a thriller, Bonnie follows Bonnie from her bright, promising youth to her final month of shoot-outs, kidnappings, and desperate car chases through America’s hinterland in the grip of the Great Depression, as the noose of the law tightened around her. Enriched by Christina Schwarz’s extensive research in the footsteps of Bonnie and Clyde and written with her powerful sense of place and time, Bonnie is a plaintive and page-turning account of a woman destroyed by a lethal combination of longing and love.

About The Author

Emme Audley

Christina Schwarz is the author of five novels, including The Edge of the Earth and the Oprah Book Club selection Drowning Ruth. Born and raised in rural Wisconsin, she lives in southern California.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books (July 7, 2020)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781476745473

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Raves and Reviews

Praise for Bonnie

“Bodies fall, blood flies, Bonnie and Clyde sleep in stolen cars and can’t eat in restaurants but so long as they are in the headlines all is well. In Bonnie, Schwarz has created a mesmerizing portrait of a young woman who longs to live a larger life and who almost always acts in her own worst interests. A stunning novel.” —Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of Mercury

“Bonnie Parker is better known for how she died than how she lived, but Christina Schwarz remedies that with her magnificent new novel. In exploring Bonnie’s complex inner-life and fascinating story, Schwarz makes this iconic figure relevant to the world we inhabit today. An evocative and absorbing read.” —Greer Kessel Hendricks, New York Times bestselling co-author of The Wife Between Us

"Absorbing...poignant, often heartbreaking...Schwarz is a vivid storyteller." –The New York Times Book Review

"Expertly magnifies the characters’ desperation and intertwines the excitement of eluding the law with their magnetic sexual attraction. Schwarz’s rich narrative brings fresh life into the notorious tale of two American outlaws." —Publishers Weekly

"The novel’s opening offers even those who remember the movie a fresh, touching view of Bonnie before Clyde.” —Kirkus Reveiw

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