Vigil

**THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**<BR><BR>A BARACK OBAMA SUMMER READING PICK 2026<BR><BR>'The first must-read book of the year' Vogue<BR>'Resonates deeply in our fractious, selfish age' Independent<BR>'One of America's most distinguished and original writers' Spectator<BR><BR>Order the latest book from the Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo - a playful, wise, electric novel taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO, in the twilight hours of his life, as he is ferried from this world into the next<BR><BR>What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward. . . <BR><BR>Not for the first time - in fact, for the 343rd time - Jill 'Doll' Blaine finds herself crashing down to earth, head-first, rear-up, to accompany her latest charge into the afterlife. She soon realises however that this man is not quite like the others. <BR><BR>For powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it. isn't it? <BR><BR>As death approaches, a cast of worldly and otherworldly visitors arrive. Crowds of people and animals - alive and dead - materialise, birds swarm the dying man's room, and associates from decades past show up, all clamouring for a reckoning. <BR><BR>In this electric novel brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark humour and warmth, spinning a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the inevitable question: who else could we be but exactly who we are?<BR><BR>Vigil was no. 10 in the Sunday Times Hardback Fiction chart and no. 1 in the New York Times Hardcover Fiction chart, w/e 1 February