Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel

Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel

In his long-awaited first novel, American master George Saunders delivers his most original, transcendent, and moving work yet. Unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night, narrated by a dazzling chorus of voices,Â Lincoln in the BardoÂ is a literary experience unlike any otherâ€”for no one but Saunders could conceive it.

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincolnâ€™s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. â€œMy poor boy, he was too good for this earth,â€ the president says at the time. â€œGod has called him home.â€ Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boyâ€™s body.

From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory, where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional stateâ€”called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardoâ€”a monumental struggle erupts over young Willieâ€™s soul.

Lincoln in the BardoÂ is an astonishingÂ feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fictionâ€™s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voicesâ€”living and dead, historical and inventedâ€”to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when weÂ know that everything we love must end?

Praise for George Saunders
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â€œNo one writes more powerfully than George Saunders.â€â€”Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
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â€œSaunders makes you feel as though you are reading fiction for the first time.â€â€”Khaled Hosseini
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â€œGeorge Saunders is a complete original. There is no one better, no one more essential to our national sense of self and sanity.â€â€”Dave Eggers
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â€œFew people cut as hard or deep as Saunders does.â€â€”Junot DÃaz

â€œNot since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny.â€â€”Zadie Smith
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â€œGeorge Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless. Weâ€™re lucky to have him.â€â€”Jonathan Franzen
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â€œAn astoundingly tuned voiceâ€”graceful, dark, authentic, and funnyâ€”telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times.â€â€”Thomas Pynchon
Country USA
Manufacturer Random House
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2017-02-14
UnitCount 1
Format Kindle eBook
EANs 9780812995343

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Random House
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2017-02-14
UnitCount	1
Format	Kindle eBook
EANs	9780812995343

Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel

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