First published 2007
A young narrator travels across America in search of reality, guided by memories of her former governess, Miss MacIntosh from What Cheer, Iowa. Miss MacIntosh possessed an unshakeable sense of humor and practical wisdom, determined to banish phantoms wherever she found them. The journey leads through encounters with Catherine Cartwheel, an opium-addicted recluse who entertains imaginary guests in her New England mansion, and Mr. Spitzer, a lawyer and composer who doubts his own existence alongside his twin brother Peron, a gambler immersed in sports. Other figures emerge from this American landscape: Cousin Hannah, a feminist adventurer known as Al Hamad in Eastern harems, Titus Bonebreaker dreaming of divine crowns in Chicago, and Mr. Weed, a methodical executioner from the Wabash River Valley. Each character embodies the central question that haunts the narrator's quest. In a world where pregnancy can be imaginary, where champions fight in graveyards, and where the heart keeps different time than the earth itself, what separates dream from waking life? The narrator must confront whether fleeing one illusion only leads to another.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, fantasy
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: America, What Cheer, Iowa, New England, Chicago, Wabash River Valley
Period: 20th Century
618 pages · Paperback · Dalkey Archive Press