The Last Thing He Wanted

Description

A thrilling and exhilarating exploration of U.S. politics in Central America from Joan Didion, the hugely acclaimed author of THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING. It is 1984. Journalist Elena McMahon, watching her evasive, gruff father's life ebbing away before her, clutches at understanding him to grasp little more than air. But harder, keener forces impel her to do his bidding, to go naked into a 'situation' in Central America, because 'things were hotting up again'.

Joan Didion is one of America's most respected writers, her work constituting some of the greatest portraits of modern-day American culture. Over the four decades of her career, she has produced widely-acclaimed journalistic essays, personal essays, novels, non-fiction, memoir and screenplays. Her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award in 2005.

' I read it twice for pure delight.' Guardian 'Fast-paced, witty, inventive... "The Last Thing He Wanted" is a creation of high seriousness, a thriller composed with all the resources of a unique gift for imaginative literature.' New York Review of Books 'An impressive, fast-talking, hard-boiled, wise-cracking, tough-guy of a novel.' Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday PRAISE FOR THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING 'Her poetic writing has a spell-like charm that is profoundly affecting.' Observer 'This brave book maps a year...when the world flipped over to expose the underside of cool where things go bad.' The Times 'The subject may be bleak, but her tender treatment makes it a book that we should all read.' Daily Mail