Moonglow - Hardcover

‘The product of a writer in full command of his novelistic faculties ... Not only probably Chabon’s greatest, but an example of a piece of sustained writing that will be hard to see outdone in 2017’ The Times

‘Funny, moving and tremendously entertaining, this is a novel about the narratives we construct for ourselves and the need we have for them, one that confirms Chabon not just as an irresistible tale-teller, but also a master’ Daily Mail

‘A masterclass in storytelling’ Independent

‘Entirely sure footed, propulsive, the work of a master at his very best. The brilliance of Moonglow stands as a strident defence of the form itself, a bravura demonstration of the endless mutability and versatility of the novel’ Observer

‘Chabon’s storytelling is so characteristically exuberant, the narratives so unfailingly rich’ Telegraph

‘”It doesn’t add up to anything,” stated the grandfather, as he looks back at his life. “It doesn’t mean anything.” Luminous with love, Moonglow is here to show us that it does’ Irish Independent

‘Chabon is virtuoso’ Irish Times

‘Moving, wry, thoroughly entertaining’ FT

‘Much of Moonglow feels Dickensian in style, and as with Dickens it is rich in sentiment. This is to the novel’s credit ... Exquisite’ TLS

‘Comparable to the young Paul Auster ... It’s as intriguing as a locked room mystery, but in keeping with Chabon’s canon, also has a heart the size of an elephant’ Big Issue

‘A wondrous book that celebrates the power of family bonds and the slipperiness of memory ... A thoroughly enchanting story’ The Washington Post

‘A rich and exotic confection ... This book is beautiful’ New York Times

‘A poignant, engrossing triumph’ People

‘Chabon is one of contemporary literature’s most gifted prose stylists ... In Moonglow, he writes with both lovely lyricism and highly caffeinated fervour’ Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

In 1989, fresh from the publication of his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon traveled to his mother's home in Oakland, California, to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, memory stirred by the imminence of death, Chabon's grandfather shared recollections and told stories the younger man had never before heard, uncovering bits and pieces of a history long buried and forgotten.

Moonglow unfolds as the deathbed confession of a man the narrator refers to only as "my grandfather." It is a tale of madness, of war and adventure, of sex and marriage and desire, of existential doubt and model rocketry, of the shining aspirations and demonic underpinnings of American technological accomplishment at midcentury, and, above all, of the destructive impact--and the creative power--of keeping secrets and telling lies. It is also a tour de force of speculative autobiography in which the author devises and reveals a secret history of his own imagination.