Bewilderment: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021

Description

A magnificent new novel by Richard Powers, his first novel since the Booker Prize-shortlisted, Pulitzer Prize-winning The Overstory. THE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING, BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORY 'It changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it. . . . It changed how I see things and that's always, for me, a mark of a book worth reading.' Barack Obama on The Overstory 'Really, just one of the best novels, period.' Ann Patchett on The Overstory 'Breathtaking.' Barbara Kingsolver on The Overstory _________________________ Picked as one of the 'Best Books of 2021' in the Sunday Times Theo Byrne is a promising young astrobiologist who has found a way to search for life on other planets dozens of light years away. He is also the widowed father of a most unusual nine-year-old. His son Robin is funny, loving, and filled with plans. He thinks and feels deeply, adores animals, and can spend hours painting elaborate pictures. He is also on the verge of being expelled from third grade, for smashing his friend's face with a metal thermos. What can a father do, when the only solution offered to his rare and troubled boy is to put him on psychoactive drugs? What can he say when his boy comes to him wanting an explanation for a world that is clearly in love with its own destruction? The only thing for it is to take the boy to other planets, while all the while fostering his son's desperate campaign to help save this one. _________________________ 'The best book I've read in 10 years. A remarkable piece of literature ... a lodestone.' Emma Thompson on The Overstory 'Radical and exciting.' Jessie Burton on The Overstory 'A remarkable piece of fiction.' New York Times on The Overstory 'An extraordinary novel.' Guardian on The Overstory

Richard Powers has published thirteen novels. He is a MacArthur Fellow and received the National Book Award. His most recent book, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He lives in the Great Smoky Mountains.

He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. I'm in awe of his talent -- Oprah Winfrey Both touching and finely written * Daily Telegraph * Deftly crafted . . . packs an emotional punch * Daily Mail * Heartfelt . . . with fantastical digressions to other planets and a rueful celebration of our own * Guardian * Powers has the rare gift of being able to deal with big ideas while keeping you interested in the lives and emotions of his characters -- Sebastian Faulks