A critically acclaimed novelist pulls Nick Carraway out of the shadows
and into the spotlight in this "masterful" look into his life before
Gatsby (Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls
and Chances Are).
Before Nick Carraway moved to West Egg and into Gatsby's periphery, he
was at the center of a very different story-one taking place along the
trenches and deep within the tunnels of World War I.
Floundering in the wake of the destruction he witnessed firsthand, Nick
delays his return home, hoping to escape the questions he cannot answer
about the horrors of war. Instead, he embarks on a transcontinental
redemptive journey that takes him from a whirlwind Paris romance-doomed
from the very beginning-to the dizzying frenzy of New Orleans, rife with
its own flavor of debauchery and violence.
An epic portrait of a truly singular era and a sweeping, romantic story
of self-discovery, this rich and imaginative novel breathes new life
into a character that many know but few have pondered deeply. Charged
with enough alcohol, heartbreak, and profound yearning to paralyze even
the heartiest of golden age scribes, Nick reveals the man behind the
narrator who has captivated readers for decades.
