The Sorrows of an American

FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED

''Astonishing . . . almost certainly the best American novel you will read this year'' Sunday Telegraph

''One of the most profound and absorbing books I''ve read in a long time'' Washington Post

''Wonderful . . . you have to read it to believe it'' Observer

After their father''s funeral, Erik and Inga Davidsen find a cryptic letter from an unknown woman among his papers, dating from his adolescence in rural Minnesota during the Depression. Returning to his psychiatric practice in New York, Erik sets about reading his father''s memoir, hoping to discover the man he never fully understood.

At the same time, another woman enters Erik''s lonely, divorced life - a beautiful Jamaican who moves into his garden flat with her small daughter. As Erik gets drawn into the cat-and-mouse tactics of someone who appears to be stalking h