The People in the Trees: The Stunning First Novel from the Author of A Little Life

Description

In 1950, Norton Perina, a young American doctor, joins an anthropological expedition to a remote Micronesian island in search of a rumoured lost tribe. There he encounters a strange group of jungle-dwellers who appear to have attained a form of immortality that preserves the body but not the mind. Perina uncovers their secret and returns with it to America, where he soon finds great success. But his discovery has come at a terrible cost, not only for the islanders, but for Perina himself.

Hanya Yanagihara lives in New York City.

The world Yanagihara conjures up, full of dark pockets of mystery, is magical. * The Times * Power and its abuses are at the heart of this richly imagined novel . . . In structure and subject, The People in the Trees pays tribute to Vladimir Nabokov's two masterpieces: Pale Fire and Lolita . . . Perina's voice - wry, superior, unthinkingly cruel - is one of the key triumphs of the book. Another triumph is the astonishingly thorough invention of Yanagihara's Micronesian country. -- Katie Kitamura * Guardian *