WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017A STORY OF LOVE AFTER DEATHA masterpiece Zadie SmithExtraordinary Daily MailBreathtaking ObserverA tour de force Sunday TimesThe extraordinary first novel by the bestselling Folio Prizewinning National Book Awardshortlisted George Saunders about Abraham Lincoln and the death of his eleven year old son Willie at the dawn of the Civil WarThe American Civil War rages while President Lincolns beloved elevenyearold son lies gravely ill. In a matter of days Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a griefstricken Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his boys body.From this seed of historical truth George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of realism entering a thrilling supernatural domain both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself trapped in a transitional realm called in Tibetan tradition the bardo and as ghosts mingle squabble gripe and commiserate and stony tendrils creep towards the boy a monumental struggle erupts over young Willies soul.Unfolding over a single night Lincoln in the Bardo is written with George Saunders inimitable humour pathos and grace. Here he invents an exhilarating new form and is confirmed as one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Deploying a theatrical kaleidoscopic panoply of voices living and dead historical and fictional Lincoln in the Bardo poses a timeless question how do we live and love when we know that everything we hold dear must end