Acclaimed short story author, George Saunders, released his first full-length novel last month. Entitled Lincoln in the Bardo, it's one you won't forget. Saunders imagines a completely new and strange universe for this story, which centers around the death of young Willie Lincoln at the height of the Civil War. Other characters include President Lincoln and a graveyard full of ghosts who believe they are recovering in their "sick-boxes."
Saunders described transitioning from writing short stories to writing his first novel by saying, “It’s like if you were building custom yurts and then somebody commissioned a mansion…” Lincoln in the Bardo has all of the humor, compassion, weirdness, and poignancy we have come to expect from Saunders’ stories with a bit of history, real and imagined, to boot.
The audiobook for Lincoln in the Bardo is equally impressive and offers a completely different experience. Saunders was able to recruit 166 people to lend their voices to each individual character in the book. The audiobook features a who’s who cast of famous actors, authors, and musicians including Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, Lena Dunham, Jeff Tweedy, and Saunders himself.
You can request the e-book and e-audiobook of Lincoln in the Bardo through OverDrive today.