From the Booker-shortlisted author of To Rise Again at a Decent Hour comes a hilarious novel
about fathers sons thwarted dreams and confronting the reality of who we really are 'This is
a fine American novel about family love and a decent but flawed man trying to be better. In
dark times like these I can't recommend this book too highly. It's strong' Stephen King on
Twitter ___________________________________ Charlie Barnes is a mid-century man devoted to his
newspaper and his landline. But Charlie is about to get dragged into our troubled age by his
storyteller son who has a different idea of him than he has of himself. Then there are his
other children his ex-wives present wife business clients friends and acquaintances all of
whom have their competing opinions of Charlie. He certainly seems simple enough: he's a striver
a romantic and a thoroughgoing capitalist. But suddenly blindsided by the Great Recession and
a dose of bad news he might have to rethink his life from top to bottom and on short notice.
What makes a man real? What makes him good? And how does the story we tell about ourselves line
up with the lives that we actually live? ___________________________________ 'Funny moving
and formally a work of genius A Calling for Charlie Barnes is quite literally the book Joshua
Ferris was born to write' Garth Risk Hallberg author of City on Fire 'Dazzling. Mind-blowing.
About as much fun as you can have without risking arrest' Richard Russo author of Empire Falls
'Wonderful: fast and deep urgent and brilliant . . . A hilarious intimate and scathing
takedown of so many American vanities' Dana Spiotta author of Stone Arabia
