Ethan Canin

"Milo Andret, the genius who solved the Malosz Conjecture and won the Fields Medal for mathematics, had an unusual, even eerie mind from birth, but not until he moves to Berkeley in the 1970s to pursue a ph.D. does he realize the extent of his singular talents. From the drug-soaked enclaves of beatnik California to the verdant lawns of Princeton University, from turbo-charged Wall Street to the quiet woods of Michigan, his reputation as one of the century's most brilliant thinkers forms the backbone of asweeping, epic story about family, love, passion, and Milo's fraught relationship with his son. With magnificent prose and enormous storytelling magic, Ethan Canin gives us a suspenseful, original novel about the nature of genius, and a son's quest to understand the mystery of his father's life, and its legacy in his own"--

A Novel

A Doubter's Almanac

Corey Sifter is befriended by the wealthy Metarey family, a politically powerful dynasty in New York, and becomes an aide to New York senator Henry Bonwiller as he runs for the Democratic presidential nomination during the Nixon era.

America America

Four dramatic tales feature people whose lives are on the brink of irrevocable change and follow their coming to terms with unanticipated events, including the title story about a dedicated classic professor at an elite prep school, whose life is forever changed by an encounter with a student. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

The Palace Thief

EMPEROR OF THE AIR "explores tricky family relationships and tender moments of self-discovery with a voice of compassion rarely found in contemporary short fiction" (San Francisco Chronicle). Whether his characters are struggling to save trees in their yards, their marriages, or themselves, Cannin renders their moments of revelation with rich observation, energy, humor, and grace.

Stories

Emperor of the Air

Carry Me Across the Water

Bestseller do New York Times Amazon Editor's Choice: Melhores Livros de 2016 Neste fascinante romance, Ethan Canin, autor bestseller do New York Times, explora a natureza do génio, a rivalidade, a ambição e o amor ao longo de diversas gerações de uma família talentosa. Milo Andret é dotado de uma mente extraordinária. Criança solitária entre as florestas do Michigan nos anos 1950, pouco valoriza o seu próprio talento. Contudo, após ingressar na Universidade de Berkeley, logo se apercebe da extensão, e dos riscos, do seu dom tão singular. A Califórnia dos anos 1970, abre-se-lhe num jogo sedutor, desvelando a Milo o encanto da ambição, mas também da indulgência. A investigação que lá inicia elevá-lo-á à categoria de lenda; a mulher que lá conhece (assim como o seu arquirrival) atormentá-lo-á para o resto da vida. De facto, a verdade é que o brilhantismo de Milo se encontra finamente entrançado com um desejo obscuro que em breve ameaçará o seu trabalho, a sua família e até a sua própria vida. Abarcando sete décadas, da Califórnia a Princeton, do Midwest a Nova Iorque, O Homem que Duvidava narra o percurso de uma família, revelando que a ambição caminha de mãos dadas com a destrutividade, a obsessão namora com o tormento, o amor encanta- se com a dor. É a história de como a luz da genialidade ilumina e queima cada geração que toca. Dotado de uma prosa fascinante, O Homem que Duvidava revela- se uma obra surpreendente, cheia de suspense e profundamente comovente. Um trabalho maior de um escritor que foi aclamado como «o mais maduro e realizado romancista da sua geração». Imperdível.

O Homem que Duvidava

Breathtaking in its suspense and beauty, Carry Me Across the Water is the story of a man’s turbulent journey, with his family, through the central years of the twentieth century. Young August Kleinman escapes from Nazi Germany to America, where his mother’s words—“Take the advice of no one”—fate him to a life of boldness and originality, from the poor streets of New York to the marble mansions of industrial Pittsburgh, from old world Hamburg to the jungle islands of the Pacific. Ultimately, near the end of a long and bountiful life, his resolution of a haunting encounter with a Japanese soldier during World War Two finally illuminates, at the deepest levels, the way authentic lives truly unfold. From the writer hailed as “the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation” (Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio) comes this “exquisitely modulated short novel” (Los Angeles Times), which “eases its silky-smooth way into a reader’s consciousness even as it plumbs the depths” (Newsday).

Two young men from different backgrounds--Orno Tarcher, from a small Missouri town, and worldly New Yorker Marshall Emerson--meet at Columbia University and pursue their own goals, lives, women, and careers

For Kings and Planets

This brilliant new work from the acclaimed author of Emperor of the Air presents four novellas--each a stunning fictional portrait--that tell of peo ple trying to understand why their lives have taken such surprising turns.

Beginning the day after Lawrence turns up on Edward's doorstep after a 15 year interval, this book takes the reader further and further back in time to the roots of their differences.

Blue River

In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the son of working-class parents, becomes a yard boy on the grand estate of the powerful Metarey family. Soon, through the family’s generosity, he is a student at a private boarding school and an aide to the great New York senator Henry Bonwiller, who is running for president. Before long, Corey finds himself involved with one of the Metarey daughters as well, and he begins to leave behind the world of his upbringing. As the Bonwiller campaign gains momentum, Corey finds himself caught up in a complex web of events in which loyalty, politics, sex, and gratitude conflict with morality, love, and the truth. Ethan Canin’s stunning novel is about America as it was and is, a remarkable exploration of how vanity, greatness, and tragedy combine to change history and fate.

Ethan Canin is one of America's finest writers. He has been called "brilliant" by the Los Angeles Times, "a tremendous talent" by the Chicago Sun-Times, and "dazzling" by Walker Percy. The bestselling author of The Palace Thief and Emperor of the Air now gives us this stunning new novel, For Kings and Planets. "Years later, Orno Tarcher would think of his days in New York as a seduction. A seduction and a near miss, a time when his memory of the world around him --the shining stone stairwells, the taxicabs, the sea of nighttime lights--was glinting and of heroic proportion. Like a dream." So begins this remarkable novel about the lives of two young men and the women they love. Orno Tarcher arrives in New York City from a small town in Missouri, feeling unsophisticated and disadvantaged by his family's bedrock values. He meets Marshall Emerson, the charismatic gem of a worldly family, a seductive and brilliant New Yorker who is revealed, as time passes, to be bent on destruction. The novel explores with depth and sophistication the conflicts of character at the heart of every life, the desire for grandeur and the lure of normalcy, the tension between rivalry and friendship, fathers and sons, love and betrayal. For Kings and Planets is the story of a man who thinks of himself as moral, who tests his character against power, deception, and seduction. It is also the story of a friendship fractured by love. For Kings and Planets is a remarkable achievement, another fiction classic by the writer who has been called "a worthy successor to...Philip Roth, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Penn Warren."

A quartet of novellas including "Accountant", "Batorsag and Szerelem", "City of Broken Dreams" and "The Palace Thief". In the title story a teacher spots the seeds of corruption in a wayward student and watches with fascinated horror as the boy, and then the man flourishes.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this mesmerizing novel, Ethan Canin, the author of America America and The Palace Thief, explores the nature of genius, rivalry, ambition, and love among multiple generations of a gifted family. Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan in the 1950s, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley he realizes the extent, and the risks, of his singular gifts. California in the seventies is a seduction, opening Milo’s eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there—and the rival he meets alongside her—will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo’s brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence. Spanning seven decades as it moves from California to Princeton to the Midwest to New York, A Doubter’s Almanac tells the story of a family as it explores the way ambition lives alongside destructiveness, obsession alongside torment, love alongside grief. It is a story of how the flame of genius both lights and scorches every generation it touches. Graced by stunning prose and brilliant storytelling, A Doubter’s Almanac is a surprising, suspenseful, and deeply moving novel, a major work by a writer who has been hailed as “the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation.” Praise for A Doubter’s Almanac “551 pages of bliss . . . devastating and wonderful . . . dazzling . . . You come away from the book wanting to reevaluate your choices and your relationships. It’s a rare book that can do that, and it’s a rare joy to discover such a book.”—Esquire “[Canin] is at the top of his form, fluent, immersive, confident. You might not know where he’s taking you, but the characters are so vivid, Hans’s voice rendered so precisely, that it’s impossible not to trust in the story. . . . The delicate networks of emotion and connection that make up a family are illuminated, as if by magic, via his prose.”—Slate “Alternately explosive and deeply interior.”—New York (“Eight Books You Need to Read”) “A blazingly intelligent novel.”—Los Angeles Times “[A] beautifully written novel.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“Extraordinary for its craft and emotional effect . . . [Ethan Canin is] a writer of enormous talent and charm.” –The Washington Post “Character is destiny,” wrote Heraclitus–and in this collection of four unforgettable stories, we meet people struggling to understand themselves and the unexpected turns their lives have taken. In “Accountant,” a quintessential company man becomes obsessed with the phenomenal success of a reckless childhood friend. “Batorsag and Szerelem” tells the story of a boy’s fascination with the mysterious life and invented language of his brother, a math prodigy. In “City of Broken Hearts,” a divorced father tries to fathom the patterns of modern relationships. And in “The Palace Thief,” a history teacher at an exclusive boarding school reflects on the vicissitudes of a lifetime connection with a student scoundrel. A remarkable achievement by one of America’s finest writers, this brilliant volume reveals the moments of insight that illuminate everyday lives. “Captivating . . . a heartening tribute to the form . . . an exquisite performance.” –The Boston Sunday Globe “A model of wit, wisdom, and empathy. Chekhov would have appreciated its frank renderings and quirky ironies.” –Chicago Tribune

The flame of genius scorches every generation it touches. Following a lonely upbringing in the woods of northern Michigan, Milo Andret enrols as a graduate student at U.C. Berkeley, where the faculty is the first to recognize that the young man's childhood solitude has created a prodigiously unusual mind. Yet with Milo's great gifts come great risks, and California in the seventies is rife with temptation. The research he begins at Berkeley will make him a legend; the woman, and the rival he meets, will haunt him forever. For it soon becomes clear that Milo's brilliance is linked to a dark need that ultimately threatens to destroy not only his work and his marriage, but the lives of all his children, as well. A Doubter's Almanac is at once a captivatingly virtuoso illustration of the powers of the mind and a deeply moving exploration of the nature of love, ambition and genius. It is a novel of flawed characters and unreachable dreams, of bonds that tie and passions that destroy; a major work of dazzling and seductive beauty from one of our foremost writers.

Ethan Canin

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