America America

It is 1971. Nixon is in the White House, the war in Vietnam shows no sign of ending, and Corey Sifter, the young son of working-class parents, is befriended by the powerful Metarey family, whose patriarch is a kingmaker in the world of New York politics.

Before long Corey is an aide to the great Senator Henry Bonwiller as he runs for the Democratic Presidential nomination. But as the campaign gains momentum, a dreadful crime is committed and Corey is forced to reconcile his part in a complex tangle of morality, politics, gratitude, love and loyalty.

'Though I've always loved Ethan Canin's work, I still wasn't prepared for America America as rich, ambitious, intelligent, emotionally satisfying and important a work of fiction as we're likely to get this year.' Richard Russo, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning Empire Falls

'With an unusually magical entwining of character, voice, and story, Ethan Canin has written one brilliant narrative after another ... He is one of the best writers at work today' Lorrie Moore

'Mesmeric ... It has the feel of Brideshead Revisited and The Line of Beauty' William Leith, Evening Standard

'Canin paints on a large canvas ... with an undercurrent of the mythic, the magical, the grandly tragic ... Engaging and well crafted' Lionel Shriver, Daily Telegraph

About the Author

Ethan Canin is the author of the novels Blue River, For Kings and Planets, and Carry Me Across the Water, and of the story collections Emperor of the Air and The Palace Thief (of which one story was made into the film The Emperor's Club). A physician, he is on the faculty of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and lives in Iowa.