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An era's darkest moments often ripple through its art.

With last week marking the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, I'm thinking of the novels that speak to the tragedy of that day.

It took time for writers to process how America — and the world — had changed after that painful morning.

In 2005, Jonathan Safran Foer published "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," which told the story of a boy who lost his father in the World Trade Center. In his grief, the boy searches for a lock that matches the key his father left behind.

In 2007, Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" came out. DeLillo took the title from the iconic photograph captured that day of people jumping from the burning towers. His novel follows a lawyer who survived the attacks, but found his life knocked off course.

The novel I'm quickest to recommend about the aftermath of 9/11 is Claire Messud's "The Emperor's Children," which came out in 2006.

It tells the story of three college friends, all nearing 30, on the eve on 9/11 in New York. The characters are glamorous and self-absorbed — and completely unaware of how deeply their lives are about to change. 

 hailed Messud for her "ability to shift gears effortlessly between the comic and the tragic, the satiric and the human." 

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Kerri Miller

Author

It took time for writers to process and understand how America -- and the world -- changed after the attacks on Sept. 11. Now, a growing number of novels address the tragedy and its aftermath.

Remember 9/11 through literature

'The Emperor's Children' by Claire Messud

Remember 9/11 through literature

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