Chad Harbach – författare

‘Sensational’OBSERVER ‘Terrific’ JONATHAN FRANZEN ‘Exceptional’ GUARDIAN ‘Pure fun’ JOHN IRVING ‘Outstanding’THE TIMES A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed debut novel of love, life and baseball. Henry Skrimshander, a shy, small-town kid, arrives at Westish College with a talent for baseball that borders on genius. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five very different people are suddenly upended.Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. Owen, Henry’s charismatic roommate, becomes caught up in secret that jeopardises everything. Mike, his best friend, realises he has championed Henry’s career at the expense of his own. Pella Affenlight returns to Westish after her marriage falls apart, determined to start a new life. Only to find that her father, the college president, has fallen desperately in love himself.As the season counts down to its climactic final game, all five are forced to confront the hopes, anxieties and secrets that they so hoped to keep at bay. ‘Irresistible … a richly peopled world to which you long to return when you put the book down’GUARDIAN ‘Wonderful … a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting’ NEW YORK TIMES ‘A page-turning, beguiling and wonderfully warm-hearted read’SUNDAY TIMES

A wonderful, warm novel from a major American voice.`It's left a little hole in my life the way a really good book will’ Jonathan FranzenA small American college. Five very different lives. One terrible mistake.At Westish College, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for the big league until a routine throw goes disastrously off course. His error will upend the fates of five people. Henry's burgeoning self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight falls unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight returns to Westish, determined to start a new life.As the season counts down to its climactic final game, all five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets.`The best debut novel I’ve read this year - assured, funny, poignant and deeply satisfying’ Evening Standard

A wonderful, warm novel from a major new American voice.In The Art of Fielding, we see young men who know that their four years on the baseball diamond at Westish College are all that remain of their sporting careers. Only their preternaturally gifted fielder, Henry Skrimshander, seems to have the chance to keep his dream – and theirs, vicariously – alive, until a routine throw goes disastrously off course, and the fates of five people are upended.After his throw threatens to ruin his roommate Owen’s future, Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his; while Mike Schwartz, the team captain and Henry’s best friend, realizes he has guided Henry’s career at the expense of his own. Keeping a keen eye on them all, college president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, falls unexpectedly and dangerously in love, much to the surprise of his daughter, Pella, who has returned to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warm-hearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment – to oneself and to others.

A taster of some of the brightest and best new novels from the rising stars of fiction.From a time-bending love story to an Irish political drama, from a big American book about talent on the pitch to a hedonistic coming-of-age tale, there is something in here to suit all readers of really good novels. Championed by bestselling authors such as Hilary Mantel, Tash Aw and Patrick Gale, this collection is proudly bought to you by Fourth Estate.

A taster of some of the brightest and best new novels from the rising stars of fiction.From a time-bending love story to an Irish political drama, from a big American book about talent on the pitch to a hedonistic coming-of-age tale, there is something in here to suit all readers of really good novels. Championed by bestselling authors such as Hilary Mantel, Tash Aw and Patrick Gale, this collection is proudly bought to you by Fourth Estate.

A taster of some of the brightest and best new novels from the rising stars of fiction.From a time-bending love story to an Irish political drama, from a big American book about talent on the pitch to a hedonistic coming-of-age tale, there is something in here to suit all readers of really good novels. Championed by bestselling authors such as Hilary Mantel, Tash Aw and Patrick Gale, this collection is proudly bought to you by Fourth Estate.

‘I could not put it down’ MADELINE CASH‘Brilliant and enchanting’ NATHAN HILL‘Deeply absorbing, vivid, and humane’ LISA HALLIDAY From the acclaimed author of The Art of Fielding comes an urgent, deeply felt story of friendship, art, love and grief, following two young women as they fumble their way into a larger world that won't stop changing. At 27, Pella’s life looks settled: she’s a recent college graduate, engaged to Mike, her longtime boyfriend, and helping her friend Owen pull off his own destination wedding on Block Island. But over that wild wedding weekend, Pella’s past and present collide spectacularly, blowing up her plans and sending her spiralling toward an unplanned future in New York City.There, in a city that’s equal parts glittering opportunity and cutthroat grit, Pella is forced to see herself in constantly changing lights as she wrestles with who she is and what she will become. As she cycles through possibilities and identities – is she an artist? A bartender? A scholar, a lover, a wife? – Pella navigates the heights and depths of passion and ambition, and the incalculable wages of love and loss.In stunning scenes and spectacular characters, Chad Harbach captures that specific, shimmering anxiety of your twenties when life still feels wide open, even as hard and irreversible choices start closing in. Energetic, funny, and deeply human, this much-anticipated follow-up to The Art of Fielding confirms Chad Harbach as one of the most accomplished and perceptive writers of our time.‘Captures the complicated nature of female friendship, and the wonderful excruciating confusion of growing up’ MADELINE CASH, author of Lost Lambs‘A monumental campus novel, full of smart and mercurial characters who feel as real as your own roommates’ TOM PERROTTA, author of Ghost Town

‘I could not put it down’ MADELINE CASH‘Brilliant and enchanting’ NATHAN HILL‘Deeply absorbing, vivid, and humane’ LISA HALLIDAY From the acclaimed author of The Art of Fielding comes an urgent, deeply felt story of friendship, art, love and grief, following two young women as they fumble their way into a larger world that won't stop changing. At 27, Pella’s life looks settled: she’s a recent college graduate, engaged to Mike, her longtime boyfriend, and helping her friend Owen pull off his own destination wedding on Block Island. But over that wild wedding weekend, Pella’s past and present collide spectacularly, blowing up her plans and sending her spiralling toward an unplanned future in New York City.There, in a city that’s equal parts glittering opportunity and cutthroat grit, Pella is forced to see herself in constantly changing lights as she wrestles with who she is and what she will become. As she cycles through possibilities and identities – is she an artist? A bartender? A scholar, a lover, a wife? – Pella navigates the heights and depths of passion and ambition, and the incalculable wages of love and loss.In stunning scenes and spectacular characters, Chad Harbach captures that specific, shimmering anxiety of your twenties when life still feels wide open, even as hard and irreversible choices start closing in. Energetic, funny, and deeply human, this much-anticipated follow-up to The Art of Fielding confirms Chad Harbach as one of the most accomplished and perceptive writers of our time.‘Captures the complicated nature of female friendship, and the wonderful excruciating confusion of growing up’ MADELINE CASH, author of Lost Lambs‘A monumental campus novel, full of smart and mercurial characters who feel as real as your own roommates’ TOM PERROTTA, author of Ghost Town

‘Sensational’OBSERVER ‘Terrific’ JONATHAN FRANZEN ‘Exceptional’ GUARDIAN ‘Pure fun’ JOHN IRVING ‘Outstanding’THE TIMES A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed debut novel of love, life and baseball. Henry Skrimshander, a shy, small-town kid, arrives at Westish College with a talent for baseball that borders on genius. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five very different people are suddenly upended.Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. Owen, Henry’s charismatic roommate, becomes caught up in secret that jeopardises everything. Mike, his best friend, realises he has championed Henry’s career at the expense of his own. Pella Affenlight returns to Westish after her marriage falls apart, determined to start a new life. Only to find that her father, the college president, has fallen desperately in love himself.As the season counts down to its climactic final game, all five are forced to confront the hopes, anxieties and secrets that they so hoped to keep at bay. ‘Irresistible … a richly peopled world to which you long to return when you put the book down’GUARDIAN ‘Wonderful … a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting’ NEW YORK TIMES ‘A page-turning, beguiling and wonderfully warm-hearted read’SUNDAY TIMES