Lincoln in the Bardo

WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 THE NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2017 The American Civil War rages while President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son lies gravely ill. In amatter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in aGeorgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that agrief-stricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy's body. From this seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of realism, entering athrilling, supernatural domain both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself trapped in atransitional realm - called, in Tibetan tradition, the bardo - and as ghosts mingle, squabble, gripe and commiserate, and stony tendrils creep towards the boy, amonumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul. Unfolding over asingle night, Lincoln in the Bardo is written with George Saunders' inimitable humour, pathos and grace. Here he invents an exhilarating new form, and is confirmed as one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Deploying atheatrical, kaleidoscopic panoply of voices - living and dead, historical and fictional - Lincoln in the Bardo poses atimeless question: how do we live and love when we know that everything we hold dear must end?