-53% $12.27$12.27
FREE delivery Thursday, October 17 to Hong Kong on eligible orders over $49
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Alamobazaarusa
$8.46$8.46
FREE delivery Friday, October 18 to Hong Kong on eligible orders over $49
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: The Used Book Company
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Audible sample
The Comeback Hardcover – August 3, 2020
Purchase options and add-ons
One of Summer 2020’s Most Anticipated Novels
Marie Claire, Entertainment Weekly, Oprah magazine, Bustle, E! Online, Popsugar, Goodreads, Today Show online, New York Post, Betches, Better Homes & Gardens, HelloGiggles, Bad on Paper podcast, The Stripe, Shondaland, HuffPost, CNN.com, Mashable
“Beautifully written and compulsively readable…At its core, this book is about redemption, grace, and pain.”
—Jenna Bush Hager
“A novel so full-blooded, so humane, that the pages feel almost warm to the touch. A clarifying, purifying chronicle of a promising young woman gone astray and the story of her comeback. Grace Turner can do it. You can do it, too.”
—A.J. Finn
Grace Turner was one movie away from Hollywood’s A-List. So no one understood why, at the height of her career and on the eve of her first Golden Globe nomination, she disappeared.
Now, one year later, Grace is back in Los Angeles and ready to reclaim her life on her own terms.
When Grace is asked to present a lifetime achievement award to director Able Yorke—the man who controlled her every move for eight years—she knows there’s only one way she’ll be free of the secret that’s already taken so much from her.
The Comeback is a moving and provocative story of justice—a true page-turner about a young woman finding the strength and power of her voice.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBerkley
- Publication dateAugust 3, 2020
- Dimensions6.3 x 1.29 x 9.2 inches
- ISBN-100593099516
- ISBN-13978-0593099513
Frequently bought together
Customers who bought this item also bought
- Before We Were Innocent: Reese's Book ClubPaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $49 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17
- Blue Sisters: A Read with Jenna Pick: A NovelHardcoverFREE Shipping on orders over $49 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17
- The Cliffs: Reese's Book Club: A novelHardcoverFREE Shipping on orders over $49 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Monday, Oct 21Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
- All the Colors of the Dark: A Read with Jenna PickHardcoverFREE Shipping on orders over $49 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Thursday, Oct 17
From the Publisher
|
|
|
---|---|---|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews
Review
—Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Shoemaker's Wife
“Berman’s novel of a young woman recruited far too early in her life into the Hollywood machine may be the smartest book I’ve read in the past few years…”
—Lithub
“In this compulsively readable story, Berman smartly picks apart the idea of a perfect victim...It’s a tale as old as time, told compassionately through a fresh new lens.”
—Mashable
“A hopeful exploration of dealing with trauma that will have readers looking at celebrity gossip differently.”
—Booklist
"Raw and nuanced...slices straight down to the nerve. A chilling exposé unfolding in real time--I dare anyone to read it without squirming in suspense and in recognition.”
—Chandler Baker, New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network
“A spectacularly compelling story of a young woman finding the courage to take back control of her life ...This is a novel that will stay with me.”
—Sarah Haywood, New York Times bestselling author of The Cactus
“A raw, gripping and spellbinding account of dangerous secrets, a pining for retribution, and the power of women.”
—Karma Brown, author of Recipe For A Perfect Wife
“A propulsive, timely study of a complicated young woman, trying to put herself back together again in Hollywood's glare. Berman's storytelling is at times darkly funny, at times rage-inducing, always gripping. I read it in 24 hours.”
—Laura Hankin, author of Happy and You Know It
“A compelling tale of power and justice.”
—Harper's Bazaar
“Perfectly of-the-moment, it's gripping, witty, and deeply satisfying—the kind of book you lose sleep over, and cancel plans for. I loved it.”
—Katie Lowe, author of The Furies
“The perfect mix of timely topics and tabloid drama. We couldn't put this book down.”
—Bad on Paper podcast
“[A] mix of a thrilling page turner with the importance of the #MeToo movement and standing up for what is right...it weaves heavy issues into something unputdownable and enjoyable to read.”
—The Stripe
“In a fiction debut that’s all too timely, The Comeback is about Grace Turner, a young actress who returns to Hollywood after retreating from the public eye.”
—Betches
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Six Weeks Earlier
They recognize me when I’m at CVS buying diet pills for my mom, the only kind that don’t make her lose her mind.
“Aren’t you Grace Turner?”
The woman is pleased with herself, a red flush climbing her neck and bursting proudly across her cheeks. Her companion is smaller, wiry, with narrow eyes, and I already understand that she’s the type who will need me to prove it somehow, as if I have anything left to prove.
“Grace Hyde,” I correct, smiling politely, humbly, before turning back to the staggering array of options in front of me. The one my mom likes has a cartoon frog standing on a set of scales on the box.
“Do you live around here now?” the first one asks hungrily. She’s already terrified that she’ll forget something when she recounts the story to her friends.
“I’m staying with my parents.” Maybe I’m in the wrong section.
“What was your last movie, anyway?” This from the smaller one, obviously. She’s scowling at me and I find myself warming to her. It’s hard to find a woman who still believes that the world owes her anything. Her friend, who has been shifting from foot to foot like she needs to take a piss, jumps into action.
“Your last film was Lights of Berlin. You were nominated for a Golden Globe but you’d already disappeared.”
“Top marks,” I say, forcing a smile before I turn around again. Then I put on a truly award-worthy performance, this one of a former child star in a supermarket, dutifully shopping for all of her mom’s health care needs.
“Were you needed back at home?” The woman puts her hand on my shoulder, and I try not to flinch at the unsolicited contact. “I’m sorry. It’s just how you . . . you disappeared one day. Was it because your parents needed you?”
Her relief is palpable, hanging off each word. And there it is. Because not only has this woman recognized me despite my badly bleached hair, ten extra pounds, and sweatpants from Target, and not only have I validated her very existence merely by being in the same shitty store in the same shitty town as she is, but also, after a year of waiting, I have restored her faith in something that she might never be able to articulate herself. This woman can leave the weight management aisle today believing once again that people are inherently good and, even more important, that people are inherently predictable. That nobody on this planet would walk out of their own perfect life one day for no discernible reason. And all this on a Monday afternoon in Anaheim no less.
“Can you do the bit? From Lights of Berlin?” she asks shyly, and the way her mouth tugs up more on one side when she smiles reminds me suddenly of my dad.
I look down at the floor. It would be so easy to say the line, but the words get stuck at the back of my throat like a mothball.
“You have pasta sauce on your T-shirt,” the smaller one says.
CHAPTER TWO
I take the long route home, walking down identical streets lined with palm trees and fifties-style suburban houses. My parents have lived here for nearly eight years now, and I still can’t believe that such a place exists outside of nostalgic teen movies and suburban nightmares. It’s the kind of town where you can never get lost no matter how hard you try, and I end up, as I always do, outside my parents’ neat, pale pink bungalow. It has a wooden porch in the front and a turquoise pool in the back, just like every other house on the street.
The smell of bubbling fat hits me as I step through the front door. My dad is cooking ham and eggs for dinner, with a couple of broccoli spears as a nod to my former lifestyle. I didn’t realize how badly they’d been eating until I came home, but it turns out there really are a lot of ways to fry a potato. I arrived back in Anaheim a vegan, but as I watched my dad carefully prepare me a salad with ranch dressing and bacon bits on my first night, I knew I couldn’t remain one for long.
My mom is watching TV on the sofa with a slight smile on her face, and I know without looking that she’ll be watching the Kardashians, or the Real Housewives of anywhere else on earth. She used to be a semi-successful model back in England, but now she’s just skinny and tired for no reason since she rarely leaves the house. Instead she lives for these shows, talking about these women as if they are her friends. I try to apologize about the diet pills, and she just shakes her head slightly, which I take to mean she doesn’t have the energy to discuss it. It’s this new thing she’s doing, rationing her energy and refusing to spend it on anything that either displeases her or causes her stress. She’s selective with her energy but she’ll watch hours of the Kardashians each day.
I sit next to her, carefully avoiding the pink blanket that covers her lap. I tuck my legs underneath me, and my dad passes each of us a tray with a beanbag underneath so that we can eat from our laps. My mom’s tray has a watercolor picture of poppies on it, and mine has sleeping cocker spaniels. He takes a seat on the green corduroy armchair next to my mother, and I know that he will be watching her with an affectionate look on his face. The one that annoys her when she catches him doing it. Weakness has always repelled us both, which is somewhat ironic given my current state.
I eat the broccoli first from the head down to the stem, and I wish I hadn’t made such a thing about salt being the devil. It’s overcooked to the point of oblivion. I coat it in ketchup instead until it’s nearly edible, and then I start to cut the ham. The Kardashians break for a commercial, and my mom mutes the TV. It’s her way of beating the system—she will never buy a mop just because some newly promoted advertising executive thinks she needs one.
I watch my mom push a piece of ham around her plate. We all know that she’s not going to eat any more than a third of it, but she keeps up the charade for my dad.
“Good day, everyone?” my dad asks, studying a cut on his thumb.
“Excellent,” I say, and my mom lets out a small laugh.
“Just sublime,” she says, before turning the volume back up. I stare out the window and watch my parents’ neighbor Mr. Porter arranging a Thanksgiving display at the end of his drive, soon to be replaced by an elaborate nativity scene. I already know he will back his car into each one at least three times before the New Year and will blame everyone else for it. At times like this, I can almost understand why my parents never left Anaheim. There’s a comfort to be found in the inevitability of it all.
I arrived on their porch nearly a year ago, with a camouflage duffel bag filled with all the things in the world I thought I couldn’t live without, most of which are now long gone. I was seven hours sober after six months that I remember only in gossamer fragments, and I saw how bad it had gotten in my parents’ faces before I ever looked in a mirror.
Despite what I told the women in CVS, I haven’t really been Grace Hyde since I was fourteen, so I had to work hard to make my return as seamless as possible for my parents. I observed their habits carefully before slotting myself into their schedule, drifting into their spaces only at breakfast and dinner, never in between. I even matched my rootless accent to theirs again, pulling back on my vowels wherever they did to remind them of who I was before we moved here. I, too, have learned how to worship at the altars of TV dinners and reality shows, all the while pretending to be like any other family deeply entrenched in the suburbs of Southern California.
In the middle of the day, when my dad is at work and my mom is painting her nails or watching QVC, I walk the streets of Anaheim, generally ending up at the same manicured park with a pink marble fountain in the center. I am rarely approached here when I go out, and if I am, I politely decline to take any photos. People in small cities are different—they need less from you. I thought it would be hard to disappear, but it turns out it’s the easiest thing in the world. Whoever you may have been, you’re forgotten as soon as you pass the San Fernando Valley.
For my family’s part, they don’t question my presence. Awards season came and went, and we all pretended that my eight-year career never existed. Maybe they’re respecting my privacy, or maybe they really don’t care why I’m here. Maybe I lost that privilege when I moved away, or that first Christmas I didn’t come home, or maybe it was all the ones after that. When I’m being honest with myself, I understand that I only came back here because I knew it would be like this—that as much as I don’t know how to ask for anything, my family also wouldn’t know how to give it to me.
Product details
- Publisher : Berkley (August 3, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593099516
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593099513
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.3 x 1.29 x 9.2 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #441,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,924 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #23,428 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #32,189 in Women's Literature & Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Ella Berman grew up in both London and Los Angeles and worked at Sony Music before starting the clothing brand London Loves LA. She lives in London with her husband, James, and their dog, Rocky. The Comeback is her first novel, coming August 11, 2020.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the writing fantastic, easy to read, and descriptive. They also find the learning material interesting and smart. Opinions differ on the readability, with some finding it great and intense, while others find it tedious and boring.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the writing fantastic and descriptive. They also say the book is an easy read.
"Loved this book…Ella Berman’s writing has a wonderful flow.She keeps your interest throughout the book with twists and turns...." Read more
"I enjoyed this book. The prose were great and the story was fun." Read more
"It's hard to believe that this is Ella's 1st book. Her writing is so eloquent And her description of things is very visual...." Read more
"Thought this book was interesting and well written...." Read more
Customers find the book interesting and well-written. They also say it's smart.
"...It’s gripping, seething, it’s smart, good for you, stand up, sister, this is #MeToo, and forget you, creep, and I’ll show you." Read more
"Thought this book was interesting and well written...." Read more
"...The character, the setting... lessons learned." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the readability of the book. Some mention it's great, intense, and keeps their interest throughout with twists and turns. Others say it's tedious, boring, and mediocre.
"...She keeps your interest throughout the book with twists and turns. But most of all it’s raw, honest and yet funny. It’s a good read!!" Read more
"...for the climax of this story to hit, but it was just mediocre through and through. It did enough to keep it free or the DNF shelf, but not much extra." Read more
"I enjoyed this book. The prose were great and the story was fun." Read more
"...I found this book tedious and somewhat boring.... A bit similar to My Dark Vanessa." Read more
Reviews with images
Timely, raw, and dark novel about growing up in Hollywood
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
She keeps your interest throughout the book with twists and turns. But most of all it’s raw, honest and yet funny. It’s a good read!!
This story kept taking me back to the issues Britney Spears has faced and is currently facing. The story lines aren’t exactly similar, but humanity failed both women.
This is the story of how one child’s rise to fame changed the course of her life, mostly in negative ways. How one persons abuse towards her at such an imperative age sent her into a spiral unable to trust anyone, not even her parents.
I kept waiting for the climax of this story to hit, but it was just mediocre through and through. It did enough to keep it free or the DNF shelf, but not much extra.
There are probably better places to go undetected, but Grace chose to go to her parent’s house, where they wouldn’t pay any attention to her anyhow. In Anaheim. Every day was the same. She had to get away from it all. No more red carpets and movie premieres for her. It was all drugstore outings hidden behind cheap sunglasses and frumpy sweats this time around.
Until something compelled her to go back. Or get even. Show the world who he really is. But she needed a plan. This is the ultimate payback and it needed to be masterminded.
THE COMEBACK is the ultimate taking control of her life and no longer letting the man who manipulated her during her young, precious years get away with his should-be-behind-bars ways. It’s gripping, seething, it’s smart, good for you, stand up, sister, this is #MeToo, and forget you, creep, and I’ll show you.
Grace seems like she should be a spoiled princess but she's actually really messed up because of her early fame and success
At the hands of her director, a manipulative Harvey Weinstein type, but better looking. How that affects her and everyone around her is a fascinating look at how we see people who we think are so lucky, when all they want is to just live quiet, happy, uncomplicated lives.