NATIONAL BESTSELLER âĸ From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres comes a âsmashing...fascinatingâ novel (The New York Times Book Review) that conjures all the American obsessions of the 1980s: sex, greed, envy, real estate, and the American dream. Â
In her subversively funny and genuinely moving new novel, Jane Smiley nails down several American preoccupations with the expertise of a master carpenter.
Forthright, likable Joe Stratford is the kind of local businessman everybody trusts, for good reason. But itâs 1982, and even in Joeâs small town, values are in upheaval: not just property values, either. Enter Marcus Burns, a would-be master of the universe whose years with the IRS have taught him which rules are meant to be broken. Before long he and Joe are new best friendsâand partners in an investment venture so complex that no one may ever understand it. Add to this Joeâs roller coaster affair with his mentorâs married daughter. The result is as suspenseful and entertaining as any of Jane Smileyâs fiction.