Vigil

Order the latest book from the Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo - a playful, wise, electric novel taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO, in the twilight hours of his life, as he is ferried from this world into the next 'He will be read long after these times have passed' Zadie Smith What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward. . . Not for the first time - in fact, for the 343rd time - Jill 'Doll' Blaine finds herself crashing down to earth, head-first, rear-up, to accompany her latest charge into the afterlife. She soon realises however that this man is not quite like the others. For powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it... isn't it? As death approaches, a cast of worldly and otherworldly visitors arrive. Crowds of people and animals - alive and dead - materialise, birds swarm the dying man's room, and associates from decades past show up, all clamouring for a reckoning. In this electric novel brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark humour and warmth, spinning a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the inevitable question: who else could we be but exactly who we are? Review: A wild ride through recent history, otherworldly reunions and good and evil - suitably big themes for one of America's most distinguished and original writers * Spectator * A tender morality tale ... intrigue thrums everywhere * Observer * The first must-read book of the year * Vogue * Faulkner meets Citizen Kane... such is Saunders' skill and empathetic imagination that the questions raised by his concocted other world... generally prove more mysterious than mystifying * Financial Times * Staggering... Saunders has outdone himself with this endlessly irreverent work of art * Publishers Weekly * Vigil... moves into even more anarchic and funny territory than that 2017 Booker-winning masterpiece with this new novel's unhinged spirits and pitiful ghosts... a meditation on the manipulative nature of modern language... resonates deeply in our fractious, selfish age * Independent * A magnificent expansion of consciousness... Saunders has crafted a novel that feels deeply resonant, especially in these fractious times * Kirkus Reviews * Exquisitely strange and beautiful, devastating, and so, so funny. Nobody but George Saunders writes like this * Meg Mason * With acuity and explosive imagination, Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time: the menace of corporate greed * i Paper * Openness has long been a hallmark of Saunders' fiction, and it's on full display in this elegant and subtle book * Kirkus * Author Biography: George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Booker Prize. Three of his books - Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo - were chosen for the New York Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, and in 2013, he was named one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine. In 2025, he received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.