by Tom Hanks
First published 2017
A gentle immigrant from Eastern Europe steps off the boat in New York City. His family is gone, his homeland destroyed by civil war, and America stretches before him like an uncertain promise. Across the country, a bowling enthusiast rolls strike after strike, racking up perfect games until ESPN cameras arrive and celebrity threatens to destroy his simple love of the sport. Meanwhile, an eccentric billionaire and his loyal assistant cruise American highways hunting for investments, stumbling upon a failing motel where romance and real human connection wait in unexpected places. Tom Hanks weaves seventeen tales of ordinary people navigating extraordinary moments. Each story captures characters at crossroads where small choices reveal large truths about love, loss, and the search for belonging in modern America.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: America, Eastern Europe, New York City
Period: 21st Century
405 pages · Hardcover · Knopf