the breakthrough novel from one of the most talented and celebrated young novelists in America
One hot, dark night in Memphis, Walter Selby finds himself wandering alone in the parking lot outside a baseball stadium, trying to find his friend. Instead he finds his future wife, Nicole, illuminated by the headlights of a passing car. In that empty car-lot, the perfect setting for an archetypal American romance, they begin a long, lovely fall – into bed, into marriage, into parenthood, into responsibility.
A generation later Walter’s son Frank, now a grown man himself, is also alone in Memphis, trying to find a trace of two parents who faded from view while he was still a child. His sister Gail is building a new family for herself on the other side of the continent, while his precious daughter Amy seems to slip further from him with each passing year. Frank’s life seems to be racing away in a flurry of wrong decisions and lost moments, with nothing to show for it. And yet if Frank’s life is anywhere, it is in his family, in these men and women, their lives and their passing. This is their story.
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‘Ever since the publication of “The Corrections”, I have been looking around for another novelist who can match Jonathan Franzen’s dextrous inventiveness and capacity for close-up emotional engagement. After spending a pleasurable week in the company of “The King is Dead”, I am convinced that Jim Lewis is a writer of the same heavyweight stature as Franzen and David Foster Wallace. A short review can barely do justice to the artfulness and deep intelligence of this novel. Above all, Jim Lewis persuades you that a single reading of his work is not enough.’ Andrew Biswell, Scotland on Sunday
‘Full of kings dead and dying, lost fathers, doomed country singers, untrustworthy leaders, set mostly in the American South and incorporating such worlds as music, politics, baseball and the movies...this is a novel written and conceived as elegy; and Walter Selby, a decent man, is going to be ruined by passion. There's an expansiveness here that is particularly American, [yet] “The King is Dead” creates a powerful narrative urgency as it approaches its end: you find you have to force yourself to read more slowly, not wanting the experience to end.’ David Flusfeder, Daily Telegraph
‘Similar to Richard Ford or Jonathan Franzen, with whom Lewis stands comparison...The result is a fine book, finely written.’ Daily Mail
‘A deceptively simple story – the best always are...sad, illuminating, songful and shivering with life.’ Time Out
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Book Description Softcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Later Edition. Size: Octavo (standard book size). 240 pages. Text body is clean, and free from previous owner annotation, underlining and highlighting. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. Edges foxed and browned. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Category: Fiction; ISBN: 0007172842. ISBN/EAN: 9780007172849. All our pictures shown here are of the actual item, not stock photos. Inventory No: RB10653. For further info on this title, click on the "Contact Seller" button within this listing. We will try to reply within 24 hours. Otherwise you can order right now (inclusive of shipping options) from the "Add to Basket" button to the right. Seller Inventory # RB10653
Book Description Condition: Good. 240 pages. Seller Inventory # 1228690
Book Description Paperback. SEPT03. The breakthrough novel from one of the most talented and celebrated young novelists in America This is a used book in fair condition, meaning a worn but fully readable copy; it may be scuffed, have rips or marks, contain highlighted passages and annotations, or be missing its dust jacket.Most of our images are sourced automatically, so the book cover shown might be different to the edition we have in stock. Seller Inventory # 16617804