And Sons

Description

Who is A. N. Dyer? & Sons is a literary masterwork for readers of 'The Art of Fielding', 'The Emperor's Children', and 'Wonder Boys' - the panoramic, deeply affecting story of an iconic novelist, two interconnected families, and the heartbreaking truths that fiction can hide. The funeral of Charles Henry Topping on Manhattan's Upper East Side would have been a minor affair (his two-hundred-word obit in The New York Times notwithstanding) but for the presence of one particular mourner: the notoriously reclusive author A. N. Dyer, whose novel 'Ampersand' stands as a classic of American teenage angst. But as Andrew Newbold Dyer delivers the eulogy for his oldest friend, he suffers a breakdown over the life he's led and the people he's hurt and the novel that will forever endure as his legacy. He must gather his three sons for the first time in many years-before it's too late. So begins a wild, transformative, heartbreaking week, as witnessed by Philip Topping, who, like his late father, finds himself caught up in the swirl of the Dyer family. First there's son Richard, a struggling screenwriter and father, returning from self-imposed exile in California. In the middle lingers Jamie, settled in Brooklyn after his twenty-year mission of making documentaries about human suffering. And last is Andy, the half brother whose mysterious birth tore the Dyers apart seventeen years ago, now in New York on spring break, determined to lose his virginity before returning to the prestigious New England boarding school that inspired Ampersand. But only when the real purpose of this reunion comes to light do these sons realise just how much is at stake, not only for their father but for themselves and three generations of their family. In this daring feat of fiction, David Gilbert establishes himself as one of our most original, entertaining, and insightful authors. '& Sons' is that rarest of treasures: a startlingly imaginative novel about families and how they define us, and the choices we make when faced with our own mortality.

David Gilbert is the author of the short-story collection 'Remote Feed' and the novel 'The Normals'. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, GQ and Bomb. He lives in New York City with his wife and three children.

'Richly entertaining ... beautifully realised and very funny ... A book [which] has the rare quality of being funny without being silly, serious without being solemn, and powerfully moving without being either sentimental or coercive' Guardian 'This is a magisterial novel, complex, sophisticated, filled with literary play ... Impressive stuff from a serious talent' Daily Mail 'A sprawling family saga of moneyed New York, written in highly wrought prose replete with Updikean flourishes. We immediately identify Gilbert with Franzen and his realist forebears ... There is much to admire in "& Sons", it is ambitious and often beautiful' Observer 'Hugely energetic ... engrossing and superbly done ... His novel's 400-plus pages zip by in a rush of accessible, highbrowish pleasure ... [An] intelligent, enthralling novel' Sunday Times 'I was floored by the sparkle and brilliance ... superbly written, wonderfully entertaining and often outrageously funny' Times '[An] elegant, witty second novel ... Gilbert's stylistic gifts are beyond question, and the novel is rich in well-turned phrases ... The novel is also very funny ... At the heart of the book is a reunion of the Dyers, a scene as closely observed as anything in Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" ... This is a terrific social comedy' Sunday Telegraph, Seven 'A singularly brilliant novel ... [which] marks David Gilbert out as a writer of exceptional talent' Literary Review 'A breathtaking work of a sweep that we rarely see over here tackling themes at the very heart of existence itself ... a tour de force ... This is a huge new talent on the scene. Greatness awaits' Sunday Express