Eric Puchner - Böcker

⭐ An Oprah's Book Club pick⭐ An instant New York Times bestseller⭐ A Book of the Year for The Times and Guardian⭐ One of the 12 best books of 2025 for BBC Culture'The Paper Palace meets Jonathan Franzen' Sunday Times Style'Moving, funny and utterly engrossing' Sunday Times'A book to lose yourself into' Guardian'I did not stop reading it for three days straight' Jessie Burton, author of The MiniaturistCece is in love. She has arrived early at her in-laws' beautiful lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a cardiac anaesthesiologist with a brilliant future.When Charlie asks Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, Cece can't imagine anyone less appropriate for the task. After all, Garrett, a depressed baggage handler at the local airport, doesn't believe in marriage. But as she spends time with him and his gruff mask slips, she grows increasingly uncertain about her future, leading to an impulsive decision that will alter the three friends' lives forever - the events of that summer reverberating across fifty years and spanning generations.More praise for Dream State'The kind of book you don't want to put down' Oprah Winfrey'A sprawling page-turner' Grazia'A totally involving and moving literary page-turner' Clare Chambers, author of Shy Creatures'A transporting wonder... A rare pleasure' Ron Charles, Washington Post'I can't think of another book I have annotated so heavily, underlining phrases on almost every page' The Times'[A] brilliantly panoramic tale of family ties... Puchner tells his tale so compellingly, so engagingly, with such warmth and humor, that it's not until you set the book down that you can appreciate the brilliance of what he's done' Guardian'As funny as it is devastating... I haven't been this dazzled by a novel in a long time' Lit Hub'Expansive... explores how we might make meaning of our existence in the face of escalating loss' New Yorker'[W]hat begins as a high-stakes love triangle tale transforms into an engrossing family saga, spanning 50 years. The magnetic pull between the three characters is enough to sustain a third plotline: the devastating effect of climate change on Montana and the life they have built there.' Sunday Times'I love a slightly oversized American novel, one that's going to take you on a journey' Times Radio

“Dream State is a delight…An exquisitely rendered novel about the vagaries of fate, and friendship, and love.” —Alice McDermott, National Book Award winner and author of Absolution “A masterpiece. Dream State is a glittering, evocative achievement.” —Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Orphan Master’s SonEric Puchner returns with an ambitious and deeply moving multigenerational novel that follows three lifelong friends and the betrayal at the center of their entwined fates.Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws’ lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a young doctor with a brilliant life ahead of him. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, though Cece can’t imagine anyone more ill-suited for the task—an airport baggage handler haunted by a tragedy from his and Charlie’s shared past. But as she spends time with Garrett, his gruff mask slips, and her long-held expectations for her life with Charlie begin to crumble. And why does Garrett, after meeting Cece, begin to feel, well, human again? As a contagious stomach flu threatens to scuttle the wedding, and Charlie and Garrett’s friendship is put to the ultimate test, Cece makes the bravest decision of her life: to run off with the groom’s best friend.Nine years later, Garrett is a wildlife biologist married to Cece. Charlie has invited them both back into his life. But has he truly forgiven Garrett? And can Cece, battling regret, resist the ghostly pull of the life she almost had? Spanning fifty years and set against the backdrop of a rapidly warming Montana, Dream State explores the repercussions of Cece and Garrett’s betrayal, not only on the three friends themselves but on their children, Lana and Jasper, unlikely soulmates who must grapple with mistakes from the past—both their own, and the fallout they’ve inherited. Written with delicacy, precision, and enormous heart, both a love letter and an elegy to the American west, Dream State is a thrillingly ambitious ode to the power of friendship, the weird weather of marriage, and the beauty of impermanence.

Includes a new story, "Body Language"! Now in paperback, Eric Puchner's celebrated debut collection, a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, established him as one of our most brilliant and promising new literary voices. Writing from an impressive range of perspectives -- men and women, children and adults, immigrants and tourists -- Puchner deftly exposes the dark, tender undersides of his characters with arresting beauty and precision. Here are people fumbling for identity in a dehumanizing world, captured in moments that are hilarious, shocking, and transcendent, sometimes all at once. Unfailingly true, surprisingly moving, and impossible to forget, these stories make up an extraordinary and strikingly original collection.

⭐ An Oprah's Book Club pick⭐ An instant New York Times bestseller⭐ Book of the Year: The Times, Guardian, Woman & Home and BBC'The Paper Palace meets Jonathan Franzen' Sunday Times Style'Moving, funny and utterly engrossing' Sunday Times'A book to lose yourself into' Guardian'I did not stop reading it for three days straight' Jessie Burton, author of The MiniaturistCece is in love. She has arrived early at her in-laws' beautiful lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a cardiac anaesthesiologist with a brilliant future.When Charlie asks Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, Cece can't imagine anyone less appropriate for the task. After all, Garrett, a depressed baggage handler at the local airport, doesn't believe in marriage. But as she spends time with him and his gruff mask slips, she grows increasingly uncertain about her future, leading to an impulsive decision that will alter the three friends' lives forever - the events of that summer reverberating across fifty years and spanning generations.More praise for Dream State'The kind of book you don't want to put down' Oprah Winfrey'A sprawling page-turner' Grazia'A totally involving and moving literary page-turner' Clare Chambers, author of Shy Creatures'A transporting wonder... A rare pleasure' Ron Charles, Washington Post'I can't think of another book I have annotated so heavily, underlining phrases on almost every page' The Times'[A] brilliantly panoramic tale of family ties... Puchner tells his tale so compellingly, so engagingly, with such warmth and humor, that it's not until you set the book down that you can appreciate the brilliance of what he's done' Guardian'As funny as it is devastating... I haven't been this dazzled by a novel in a long time' Lit Hub'Expansive... explores how we might make meaning of our existence in the face of escalating loss' New Yorker'[W]hat begins as a high-stakes love triangle tale transforms into an engrossing family saga, spanning 50 years. The magnetic pull between the three characters is enough to sustain a third plotline: the devastating effect of climate change on Montana and the life they have built there.' Sunday Times'I love a slightly oversized American novel, one that's going to take you on a journey' Times Radio

AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK AND AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'The kind of book you don't want to put down' Oprah Winfrey'[A] brilliantly panoramic tale of family ties' The Guardian'A rare pleasure' Ron Charles, Washington Post'Puchner's writing is almost flawless... moving, funny and utterly engrossing' The Times'A reader can't help falling in head first' Boston Globe'Gorgeous... It's being hailed by some as the next great American novel' BBC.com'A totally involving and moving literary page-turner' Clare Chambers'I loved Dream State. I did not stop reading it for three days straight' Jessie BurtonCece is in love. She has arrived early at her in-laws' beautiful lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie, a cardiac anaesthesiologist with a brilliant future.When Charlie asks Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony, Cece can't imagine anyone less appropriate for the task. After all, Garrett, a depressed baggage handler at the local airport, doesn't believe in marriage. But as she spends time with him and his gruff mask slips, she grows increasingly uncertain about her future, leading to an impulsive decision that will alter the three friends' lives forever - the events of that summer reverberating across fifty years and spanning generations.