"Dazzling and audacious. . . Nothing short of astounding."
--Philadelphia Inquirer
The critically acclaimed debut novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of The Overstory and the forthcoming Bewilderment.
"A writer of blistering intellect . . . [Powers is] a novelist of
ideas and a novelist of witness, and in both respects, he has few
American peers." -- Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times
In the spring of 1914, renowned photographer August Sander took a
photograph of three young men on their way to a country dance. This
haunting image, capturing the last moments of innocence on the brink of
World War I, provides the central focus of Powers's brilliant and
compelling novel.
As the fate of the three farmers is chronicled, two contemporary stories
unfold. The young narrator becomes obsessed with the photo, while Peter
Mays, a computer writer in Boston, discovers he has a personal link with
it. The three stories connect in a surprising way and offer the reader a
glimpse into a mystery that spans a century of brutality and progress.