Wishlist

Saved in this browser only - it isn't synced to your other devices.

Back to the full ranking

#4154 of 8,085 books · #2062 in Fiction

Shortlisted for the Giller Prize (2018).

Frances Price – tart widow, possessive mother, and Upper East Side force of nature – is in dire straits, beset by scandal and impending bankruptcy. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there's the Price's aging cat, Small Frank, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral litigator and world-class cad whose gruesome tabloid death rendered Frances and Malcolm social outcasts. Putting penury and pariahdom behind them, the family decides to cut their losses and head for the exit. One ocean voyage later, the curious trio land in their beloved Paris, the City of Light serving as a backdrop not for love or romance, but self destruction and economical ruin – to riotous effect. A number of singular characters serve to round out the cast: a bashful private investigator, an aimless psychic proposing a seance, and a doctor who makes house calls with his wine merchant in tow, to name a few.

Buy this book at AmazonAd
Publisher
House of Anansi Press
ISBN-13
9781526601193
Genre
Topics
Family dysfunctionWealth and ruinGrief and death

Awards

Other awarded books from Patrick deWitt