Longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, deWitt's dazzlingly original second novel is a darkly funny, offbeat western about a reluctant assassin and his murderous brother.
The new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted author of The Sisters Brothers 'DeWitt is in possession of a fresh, lively voice that surprises at every turn' Kate Atkinson, author of Transcription 'My favourite book of his yet ... Dizzyingly good ... A triumph from a writer truly in the zone' Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette ' French Exit made me so happy ... Brilliant, addictive, funny and wise' Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less Frances Price - tart widow, possessive mother and Upper East Side force of nature - is in dire straits, beset by scandal. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there's their cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral lawyer whose gruesome tabloid death rendered them social outcasts.
To put their troubles behind them, the trio cut their losses and head for the exit. Their beloved Paris becomes the backdrop for a giddy drive to self-destruction, helped along by a cast of singularly curious characters: a bashful private investigator, an aimless psychic and Mme. Reynard, friendly American expat and aggressive houseguest.
Brimming with pathos, warmth and wit, French Exit is a one-of-a-kind tragedy of manners, a riotous send-up of high society and a moving story of mothers and sons.
From bestselling and award-winning author Patrick deWitt comes a novel about an ordinary man who thought life''s surprises were behind him - until a chance encounter changes everything Bob Comet is a retired librarian passing his solitary days surrounded by books in a mint-colored house in Portland, Oregon. One morning on his daily walk he encounters a confused elderly woman lost in a market and returns her to the senior center that is her home. Hoping to fill the void he''s known since retiring, he begins volunteering at the center. Here, as a community of strange peers gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from his past, the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed.
Behind Bob Comet''s straight man facade is the story of an unhappy child''s runaway adventure during the last days of the Second World War, of true love won and stolen away, of the purpose and pride found in the librarian''s vocation, and the pleasures of a life lived to the side of the masses. Comet''s experiences are imbued with melancholy but also a bright, sustained comedy; he has a talent for locating bizarre and outsized players to welcome onto the stage of his life.
With his inimitable verve, skewed humor, and compassion for the outcast, Patrick deWitt has written a wide-ranging and ambitious document of the introvert''s condition. The Librarianist celebrates the extraordinary in the so-called ordinary life, and depicts beautifully the turbulence that sometimes exists beneath a surface of serenity.
________________________________________________________________________ Praise for Patrick deWitt ''A triumph from a writer truly in the zone'' Maria Semple, author of Where''d You Go, Bernadette ''deWitt remains a true original'' Guardian ''One of the most talented young writers around'' Sunday Times
