A tender masterpiece of love, memory and loss from one of the world's great writers.
The life of Sy Baumgartner - noted author, and soon-to-be retired philosophy professor - has been defined by his deep, abiding love for his wife, Anna. Now Anna is gone, and Baumgartner is embarking on his seventies whilst trying to live with her absence. But Anna's voice is everywhere still, in every spiral of memory and reminiscence, in each recalled episode of the passionate forty years they shared.
Rich with compassion, wit and an eye for beauty in the smallest, most transient episodes of ordinary life, Baumgartner is one of Auster's most luminous works - a tender late masterpiece of the ache of memory.
What readers are saying:
***** Perfect, subtle, charming, funny and sad.
**** Well-written and compelling but also comforting, like catching up with an old friend.
**** This is a concise, beautifully-written and intelligent piece of understated introspective fiction from Auster.
BAUMGARTNER is a respected author in his mid-70s, who is unsteady on his feet, but with the sharpest of minds, which he uses to journey back to his past - the centre of which is the relationship with his wife. Anna was the love of his life - a love of which he has never let go. A warm and wonderful love story with an emotional punch.