The Lacuna - Hardcover

"Compelling.Kingsolver's descriptions of life in Mexico City burst with sensory detail-thick sweet breads, vividly painted walls, the lovely white feet of an unattainable love." -- The New Yorker "Masterful.a reader receives the great gift of entering not one but several worlds.The final pages haunt me still." -- San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Rich.impassioned.engrossing.Politics and art dominate the novel, and their overt, unapologetic connection is refreshing." -- Chicago Tribune Rich impassioned engrossing Politics and art dominate the novel, and their overt, unapologetic connection is refreshing. --Chicago Tribune Shepherd s story in Kingsolver s accomplished literary hands is so seductive, the prose so elegant, the architecture of the novel so imaginative, it becomes hard to peel away from the book --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The novel achieves a rare dramatic power...Kingsolver masterfully resurrects a dark period in American history with the assured hand of a true literary artist. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) A sweeping mural of sensory delights and stimulating ideas about art, government, identity and history Readers will feel the sting of connection between then and now. --Seattle Times A sweeping narrative of utopian dreams and political reality A stirring novel intimate and pitch-perfect. --San Diego Union-Tribune A lavishly gifted writer... Kingsolver [has a] wonderful ear for the quirks of human repartee. The Lacuna is richly spiked with period language... This book grabs at the heartstrings... --Los Angeles Times Compelling Kingsolver s descriptions of life in Mexico City burst with sensory detail thick sweet breads, vividly painted walls, the lovely white feet of an unattainable love. --The New Yorker Breathtaking...dazzling...The Lacuna can be enjoyed sheerly for the music of its passages on nature, archaeology, food and friendship; or for its portraits of real and invented people...But the fuller value...lies in its call to conscience and connection. --New York Times Book Review [Kingsolver] stirs the real with the imagined to produce a breathtakingly ambitious book, bold and rich hopeful, political and artistic. The Lacuna fills a lacuna with powerfully imagined social history--Kansas City Star Kingsolver deftly combines real history and the life of the fictional protagonist A sweeping tale. --Atlanta Journal-Constitution Masterful a reader receives the great gift of entering not one but several worlds The final pages haunt me still. --San Francisco Chronicle Book Review The most mature and ambitious [novel] she s written An absorbing portrayal of American life A rich novel [with] a large, colorful canvas A tender story about a thoughtful man. --Washington Post [Kingsolver s] playful pastiche brings to vivid life the culture wars of an earlier era... --Vogue ...True and riveting...Barbara Kingsolver has invented a wondrous filling here, sweeter and thicker than pan dulce, spicy as the hottest Mexican chiles, paranoid as the American government hunting Communists --Philadelphia Inquirer [Kingsolver] hasn t lost her touch...she delivers her signature blend of exotic locale, political backdrop and immediately engaging story line...teems with dark beauty. --People A work that is often close to magic.... Much research underlies this complex weaving...but the work is lofted by lyric prose. --Denver Post "A work that is often close to magic.... Much research underlies this complex weaving...but the work is lofted by lyric prose."--Denver Post "[Kingsolver] stirs the real with the imagined to produce a breathtakingly ambitious book, bold and rich...hopeful, political and artistic. The Lacuna fills a lacuna with powerfully imagined social history--Kansas City Star "Rich...impassioned...engrossing...Politics and art dominate the novel, and their overt, unapologetic connection is refreshing."--Chicago Tribune "Compelling...Kingsolver's descriptions of life in Mexico City burst with sensory detail--thick sweet breads, vividly painted walls, the lovely white feet of an unattainable love."--The New Yorker "The most mature and ambitious [novel] she's written...An absorbing portrayal of American life...A rich novel [with] a large, colorful canvas...A tender story about a thoughtful man."--Washington Post "A sweeping mural of sensory delights and stimulating ideas about art, government, identity and history...Readers will feel the sting of connection between then and now."--Seattle Times "Masterful...a reader receives the great gift of entering not one but several worlds...The final pages haunt me still."--San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "A sweeping narrative of utopian dreams and political reality...A stirring novel...intimate and pitch-perfect."--San Diego Union-Tribune "A lavishly gifted writer... Kingsolver [has a] wonderful ear for the quirks of human repartee. The Lacuna is richly spiked with period language... This book grabs at the heartstrings..."--Los Angeles Times ."..True and riveting...Barbara Kingsolver has invented a wondrous filling here, sweeter and thicker than pan dulce, spicy as the hottest Mexican chiles, paranoid as the American government hunting Communists "--Philadelphia Inquirer "Shepherd's story in Kingsolver's accomplished literary hands is so seductive, the prose so elegant, the architecture of the novel so imaginative, it becomes hard to peel away from the book"--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "Breathtaking...dazzling...The Lacuna can be enjoyed sheerly for the music of its passages on nature, archaeology, food and friendship; or for its portraits of real and invented people...But the fuller value...lies in its call to conscience and connection."--New York Times Book Review "[Kingsolver's] playful pastiche brings to vivid life the culture wars of an earlier era..."--Vogue "Kingsolver deftly combines real history and the life of the fictional protagonist...A sweeping tale."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution "The novel achieves a rare dramatic power...Kingsolver masterfully resurrects a dark period in American history with the assured hand of a true literary artist."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[Kingsolver] hasn't lost her touch...she delivers her signature blend of exotic locale, political backdrop and immediately engaging story line...teems with dark beauty."--People

"The Lacuna" is the heartbreaking story of a man's search for safety of a man torn between the warm heart of Mexico and the cold embrace of 1950s McCarthyite America. Born in the U.S. and reared in Mexico, Harrison Shepherd is a liability to his social-climbing flapper mother, Salome. Making himself useful in the household of the famed Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and exiled Bolshevik leader Lev Trotsky, young Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution. A violent upheaval sends him north to a nation newly caught up in World War II. In the mountain city of Asheville, North Carolina he remakes himself in America's hopeful image. But political winds continue to throw him between north and south, in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach - the lacuna - between truth and public presumption. This is a gripping story of identity, loyalty and the devastating power of accusations to destroy innocent people. "The Lacuna" is as deep and rich as the "New World".