Fools

(Paperback, Main)

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LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

When is it wise to be a fool for something From New York to India to Paris, from the CatholicWorker movement to Occupy Wall Street, the characters in Joan Silber's dazzling connectedstories tackle this question head-on.

Vera, the shy, anarchist daughter of missionary parents, leaves her family for love andactivism in New York. A generation later, her doubting daughter insists on the truth of being oftwo minds, even in marriage. The adulterous son of a Florida hotel owner steals money fromhis family and departs for Paris, where he finds himself outsmarted in turn. Fools ponders thecircle of winners and losers, dupers and duped, and the price we pay for our beliefs, offeringreaders an unforgettable look at work, faith, love and the eternal quest for personal integrity.

Reviews

'Structurally, the intricacy is skillful; emotionally, it's astounding...Beautiful, intricate and wise' - New York Times Book Review

'Excellent . . . the pleasure of Ms. Silber's overlapping tales is that in all of them characters do something to surprise you.' - Wall Street Journal

'Silber deftly constructs whole, fully realized lives in just a few pages, and her use of firstperson narratives gives these stories an intimate, confessional feeling, as if you've struck up a conversation with a particularly talkative stranger.' - Boston Globe

'Astonishing for its range, for its sweeping sense of time and place, and most especially for its deep insight into the way small choices can circle out to shape lives, and even human history. This is a beautiful book and an important literary achievement.' - Dan Chaon

Author Bio

Joan Silber is the author of nine books of fiction, most recently Secrets of Happiness. Improvement was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award and was listed as one of the year's best books by the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Newsday, the Seattle Times and Kirkus Reviews. She lives in New York. Find out more at joansilber.net.