NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - In this mesmerizing novel, Ethan Canin,
the author of America America and The Palace Thief, explores the
nature of genius, rivalry, ambition, and love among multiple generations
of a gifted family.
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in
the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to
his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the
extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the
seventies is a seduction, opening Milo's eyes to the allure of both
ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a
legend; the woman he meets there--and the rival he meets alongside
her--will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo's brilliance is
entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his
family, even his existence.
Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the
Midwest to New York, A Doubter's Almanac tells the story of a family
as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness,
obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how
the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it
touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A
Doubter's Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving
novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as "the most mature
and accomplished novelist of his generation."
Praise for A Doubter's Almanac
"551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . .
You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your
relationships. It's a rare book that can do that, and it's a rare joy to
discover such a book."--Esquire
"[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You
might not know where he's taking you, but the characters are so vivid,
Hans's voice rendered so precisely, that it's impossible not to trust in
the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that
make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his
prose."--Slate
"Alternately explosive and deeply interior."--New York ("Eight Books
You Need to Read")
"A blazingly intelligent novel."--Los Angeles Times
"[A] beautifully written novel."--The New York Times Book Review
(Editors' Choice)
