Ethan Canin Books In Order

Blue River

The long awaited novel by the author of the bestselling Emperor of the Air is a story of astounding power and sensibility. Lawrence and Edward are two brothers who haven’t seen each other in ten years. Lawrence a drifter, a gambler, a man of questionable character appears on the cautious Edward’s doorstep, challenging his beliefs and forcing him to recall their tumultuous childhood and uncover a long buried story of monstrous betrayal.

For Kings and Planets

From the celebrated author of The Palace Thief and Emperor of the Air, comes this stunning novel about the relationship between two very different men. Orno Tarcher travels from a small town in Missouri to New York City to attend Columbia University, where he begins a new life feeling unsophisticated and insecure. He soon strikes up a friendship with Marshall Emerson, a seductive and brilliant New Yorker whose sophistication dazzles Orno. As time pas*ses, Marshall is revealed to be bent on destruction, and Orno’s involvment with Marshall’s worldly sister further complicates their friendship. Carefully crafted and skillfully informed by the works of Fitzgerald and Waugh, For Kings and Planets is a remarkable novel. A New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and Minneapolis StarTribune bestseller, and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998.

Carry Me Across the Water

Breathtaking in its suspense and beauty, Carry Me Across the Water is the story of a man’s turbulent journey, with his family, through the central years of the twentieth century. Young August Kleinman escapes from Na*zi Germany to America, where his mother s words Take the advice of no one fate him to a life of boldness and originality, from the poor streets of New York to the marble mansions of industrial Pittsburgh, from old world Hamburg to the jungle islands of the Pacific. Ultimately, near the end of a long and bountiful life, his resolution of a haunting encounter with a Japanese soldier during World War Two finally illuminates, at the deepest levels, the way authentic lives truly unfold. From the writer hailed as the most mature and accomplished novelist of his generation Alan Cheuse, National Public Radio comes this exquisitely modulated short novel Los Angeles Times, which eases its silky smooth way into a reader s consciousness even as it plumbs the depths Newsday.

America America

From Ethan Canin, bestselling author of The Palace Thief, comes a stunning novel, set in a small town during the Nixon era and today, about America and family, politics and tragedy, and the impact of fate on a young man’s life. In the early 1970s, Corey Sifter, the son of working class parents, becomes a yard boy on the grand estate of the powerful Metarey family. Soon, through the family s generosity, he is a student at a private boarding school and an aide to the great New York senator Henry Bonwiller, who is running for president of the United States. Before long, Corey finds himself involved with one of the Metarey daughters as well, and he begins to leave behind the world of his upbringing. As the Bonwiller campaign gains momentum, Corey finds himself caught up in a complex web of events in which loyalty, politics, sex, and gratitude conflict with morality, love, and the truth. America America is a beautiful novel about America as it was and is, a remarkable exploration of how vanity, greatness, and tragedy combine to change history and fate.

Emperor of the Air

Highly acclaimed and wildly successful, Ethan Canin’s first book combines exquisite precision, humor, and a rare maturity of observation, capturing those miraculous moments when life opens up and presents itself to us. Here are short stories by a writer under thirty that aren’t about existential emptiness. Full of life, rich with personal history, plot, and revelation, the stories in Empeor of the Air are the work of an extraordinarily gifted young writer.

The Palace Thief

Extraordinary for its craft and emotional effect…
Ethan Canin is a writer of enormous talent and charm.
The Washington Post

Character is destiny, wrote Heracli*tus and in this collection of four unforgettable stories, we meet people struggling to understand themselves and the unexpected turns their lives have taken. In Accountant, a quintessential company man becomes obsessed with the phenomenal success of a reckless childhood friend. Batorsag and Szerelem tells the story of a boy’s fascination with the mysterious life and invented language of his brother, a math prodigy. In City of Broken Hearts, a divorced father tries to fathom the patterns of modern relationships. And in The Palace Thief, a history teacher at an exclusive boarding school reflects on the vicissitudes of a lifetime connection with a student scoundrel. A remarkable achievement by one of America s finest writers, this brilliant volume reveals the moments of insight that illuminate everyday lives.

Captivating…
a heartening tribute to the form…
an exquisite performance.
The Boston Sunday Globe

A model of wit, wisdom, and empathy. Chekhov would have appreciated its frank renderings and quirky ironies.
Chicago Tribune