Jonathan Franzen won the National Book Award in 2001 for ‘The Corrections’. He is the author of three other critically acclaimed novels, ‘The Twenty-Seventh City’, ‘Strong Motion’ and most recently ‘Freedom’, as well as two works of non-fiction: ’How to be Alone’ and ‘The Discomfort Zone’. He lives in New York City and Santa Cruz, California.

'A book which is funny, moving, generous, brutal and intelligent, and which poses the ultimate question: what life is for? And that is as much as anyone could ask' Blake Morrison, Guardian 'Intelligent, compellingly readable, funny and above all generous spirited, it is a rare thing, a modern novel with both head and heart' Daily Mail 'Jonathan Franzen has built a powerful novel out of the swarming consciousness of a marriage, a family, a whole culture' Don DeLillo 'Impossible to dislike, an unpretentious page-turner' Zadie Smith 'Compelling. A pleasure from beginning to end. Franzen, in one leap, has put himself into the league of Updike and Roth' Evening Standard