July, July

Description

At a thirty-year reunion, a group of old friends tell the story of their lives -- and the story of a generation -- in this brilliant new novel from one of America's most celebrated writers. At a dance in their old college gymnasium, the Class of '69 have been reunited. As part of the 'Golden Generation', they had graduated in those anything's-possible days, still believing in good and evil, ideals and hope. One would become an anti-war campaigner, one the perfect all-American girl; one would serve in Vietnam, one would dodge the draft in Canada instead. Now, after thirty years of fading dreams, each character has a story to tell -- and each has a part to play in a reunion they will never forget. Here are compelling tales of passion, hope, self-delusion and yearning. Together they provide a portrait of a generation launched into adulthood at the moment when America, too, lost its innocence.

Tim O'Brien was born in Minnesota, and graduated from Macalester College in St Paul. He served as an infantryman in Vietnam and after graduate studies at Harvard worked as a national affairs reporter for the Washington Post. He first came to prominence in 1973 with If I Die in a Combat Zone, the compelling, fictionalised account of his time in Vietnam. His highly acclaimed novels include Going After Cacciato, winner of the 1979 National Book Award in Fiction, The Things They Carried, In the Lake of the Woods and Tomcat in Love.

'JULY, JULY is beautifully written, very moving and very, very funny. It is also packed with some of the best characters I've read in a long time. A great book from one of America's greatest writers.' RODDY DOYLE 'JULY, JULY is a book for all seasons. Funny and poignant, it looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfilment eludes us.' EDNA O'BRIEN 'O'Brien expands on the themes he explored in some of his best-known earlier novels: memory, hope, love, war ... This is a poignant and powerful page-turner, and a testament to a generation.' Publishers Weekly