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2014 Longlist

Arcadia

ABOUT
THE BOOK

In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this romantic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday. Arcadia’s inhabitants include Handy, the charismatic leader; his wife, Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah’s only child, Bit. While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. He falls in love with Helle, Handy’s lovely, troubled daughter. And eventually he must face the world beyond Arcadia.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Lauren
Groff

Lauren Groff is the New York Times-bestselling author of three novels, The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, and Fates and Furies, and the celebrated short-story collection Delicate Edible Birds. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and several Best American Short Stories anthologies; has won the Paul Bowles Prize for Fiction, the PEN/O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize; and has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Orange Award for New Writers, and the L.A. Times Book Prize.

Lauren Groff is the New York Times-bestselling author of three novels, The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, and Fates and Furies, and the celebrated short-story collection Delicate Edible Birds. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, and several Best American Short Stories anthologies; has won the Paul Bowles Prize for Fiction, the PEN/O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize; and has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Orange Award for New Writers, and the L.A. Times Book Prize.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Reading Arcadia, the story of a Utopian community in New York State from its inception to its demise and beyond, is a transcendent experience. Lauren Groff creates a world, and the characters that populate it, with prose that is sensitive, elegant and deeply evocative.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
04/04/2013
Country
United States
Original Language
English
Author
Publisher
William Heineman

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