***WINNER OF THE 2018 AUDIE AWARD FOR AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR***<br> <br> The long-awaited first novel from the author of Tenth of December : a moving and original father-son story featuring none other than Abraham Lincoln, as well as an unforgettable cast of supporting characters, living and dead, historical and invented <br> <br> February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln's beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. "My poor boy, he was too good for this earth," the president says at the time. "God has called him home." Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy's body.<br> <br> From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state--called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo--a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie's soul.<br> <br> Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction's ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?<br> <br> The 166-person full cast features award-winning actors and musicians, as well as a number of Saunders' family, friends, and members of his publishing team, including, in order of their appearance:<br> <br> Nick Offerman as HANS VOLLMAN<br> David Sedaris as ROGER BEVINS III<br> Carrie Brownstein as ISABELLE PERKINS<br> George Saunders as THE REVEREND EVERLY THOMAS<br> Miranda July as MRS. ELIZABETH CRAWFORD<br> Lena Dunham as ELISE TRAYNOR<br> Ben Stiller as JACK MANDERS<br> Julianne Moore as JANE ELLIS<br> Susan Sarandon as MRS. ABIGAIL BLASS<br> Bradley Whitford as LT. CECIL STONE<br> Bill Hader as EDDIE BARON<br> Megan Mullally as BETSY BARON<br> Rainn Wilson as PERCIVAL "DASH" COLLIER<br> Jeff Tweedy as CAPTAIN WILLIAM PRINCE<br> Kat Dennings as MISS TAMARA DOOLITTLE<br> Jeffrey Tambor as PROFESSOR EDMUND BLOOMER<br> Mike O'Brien as LAWRENCE T. DECROIX<br> Keegan-Michael Key as ELSON FARWELL<br> Don Cheadle as THOMAS HAVENS<br> and<br> Patrick Wilson as STANLEY "PERFESSER" LIPPERT<br> with<br> Kirby Heyborne as WILLIE LINCOLN,<br> Mary Karr as MRS. ROSE MILLAND,<br> and Cassandra Campbell as Your Narrator<br> <br> |