Shipwreck: A Novel

(Paperback)

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A mesmerizing novel of deception and betrayal from the acclaimed author of Wartime Lies and About Schmidt.
John North, a prize-winning American writer, is suddenly beset by dark suspicions about the real value of his work. Over endless hours and bottles of whiskey consumed in a mysterious caf called LEntre Deux Mondes, he recounts, in counterpoint to his doubts, the one story he has never told before, perhaps the only important one he will ever tell. Norths chosen interlocutorwho could be his doppelgngeris transfixed by the revelations and becomes the narrator of Norths tale.

North has always been faithful to his wife, Lydia, but when one of his novels achieves a special success, he allows himself a dalliance with La, a starstruck young journalist. Coolly planning to make sure that his life with Lydia will not be disturbed, North is taken off guard when La becomes obsessed with him and he with her elaborate erotic games. As the hypnotic and serpentine confession unfurls, we gradually discover the extraordinary lengths to which North has gone to indulge a powerful desire for self-destruction.
Shipwreck is a daring parable of the contradictory impulses that can rend a single soulnarcissism and self-loathing, refinement and lust.

Reviews

Fascinating . . . Absolutely riveting . . . The suspense . . . swells like a tsunami . . . A first-rate read.
Joyce Cohen, People (three stars out of four)

Mesmerizing . . . Hypnotic . . . Intensely readable and even soul-shaking . . . Shipwreck is at once a classic, even Jamesian novel of character and a highly erotic, very grown-up modern thrillerin other words, another triumph for Louis Begley.
Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World

Begley is a major talent . . . He is totally in command here, and we can only marvel at his portraiture . . . Shipwreck is a novel of skill, insight, and authority.
Roger Harris, Sunday Star-Ledger (Newark)

Dazzling . . . So enthralling that the temptation is to let a thousand glowing adjectives bloom . . . Will pin readers to their chair right up to the final page . . . The ending is a tour de force.
Mameve Medwed, Boston Globe

Compellingly and compulsively told . . . [Norths] obsessive self-awareness, like a mirror, catches our attention and holds it fast.
Merle Rubin, Los Angeles Times

Author Bio

Louis Begley lives in New York City. His previous novels are Schmidt Delivered, Wartime Lies, The Man Who Was Late, As Max Saw It, About Schmidt, and Mistlers Exit.