Ed King

Ed King

by David Guterson (Author)

Synopsis

In 1962, actuary Walter Cousins makes the biggest mistake of his life. When mild-mannered Walter - 'a man who weighs risk for a living' - sleeps with the sharp-tongued, not-quite-legal British au pair, Diane Burroughs, he can have no sense of the magnitude of his error. For this brief affair sets in motion a tragedy of epic proportions, upending Sophocles's immortal tale of fate, free will, and forbidden desire. At the centre is Ed King, an infant given up for adoption who becomes one of the world's richest and most powerful men. But beneath the sizzling story of Ed's seemingly inexorable rise to fame and fortune is a dark and unsettling destiny, one that approaches with ever-increasing suspense as the book reaches its shattering and surprising conclusion. An assured, propulsively written epic novel of unstoppable force, Ed King is a classic of contemporary American life: a daringly told story of a man and a myth, of blindness and narcissism, and of the precarious foundations on which carefully constructed lives are built - and timeless stories are created. From the bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars, a dazzling, darkly funny, extraordinary modern take on an ancient tragedy, quite unlike anything we've seen before.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 03 Oct 2011

ISBN 10: 1408807475
ISBN 13: 9781408807477
Book Overview: From the bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars, a dazzling, darkly funny, compulsively readable retelling of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex that takes us from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair to the twenty-first century headquarters of an Internet search giant.

Media Reviews
Praise for The Other `Remarkable ... a highly significant contribution to American literature' * Giles Foden, author of The Last King of Scotland *
`Guterson's books keep getting better ... A moving portrait of male friendship' * New York Times *
'A fine novel [of] gentle, intelligent sadness' * Independent *
`Elegiac ... The Other is an exploration of how one should live in a flawed world, the choices we make and the values they reflect' * Boston Globe *
Author Bio
David Guterson is the author of the novels Snow Falling on Cedars, East of the Mountains, Our Lady of the Forest and The Other; a collection of short stories, The Country Ahead Of Us, The Country Behind; and the non-fiction book Family Matters. Snow Falling on Cedars won the PEN/Faulkner Award. David Guterson lives in Washington State.