Arcadia

PSTRONGFrom the bestselling author of IThe Monsters of Templeton comes a lyrical and gripping story of a great American dream./STRONG/PPIn the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what would become a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. IArcadia follows this romantic, rollicking, and tragic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday and after. /PPArcadia's inhabitants include Handy, a musician and the group's charismatic leader; Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah's only child, the book's protagonist, Bit, who is born soon after the commune is created. /PPWhile Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. If he remains in love with the peaceful agrarian life in Arcadia and deeply attached to its residents--including Handy and Astrid's lithe and deeply troubled daughter, Helle--how can Bit become his own man? How will he make his way through life and the world outside of Arcadia where he must eventually live?/PPWith IArcadia, her first novel since her lauded debut, IThe Monsters of Templeton, Lauren Groff establishes herself not only as one of the most gifted young fiction writers at work today but also as one of our most accomplished literary artists./PPSTRONGPraise for IArcadia:BR/STRONGBR"[Lauren Groff] has taken a quaint, easily caricatured community and given it true universality�And a book that might have been small, dated and insular winds up feeling timeless and vast�The raw beauty of Ms. Groff's prose is one of the best things about IArcadia. But it is by no means this book's only kind of splendor."BR--Janet Maslin, IThe New York TimesBRBR"Groff's beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read."BR--IPublishers Weekly (Starred Review)BRBR"I was constantly torn between wanting to gulp down this book or savor its lines. Even the most incidental details vibrate with life... IArcadia wends a harrowing path back to a fragile, lovely place you can believe in." BR--Ron Charles, The IWashington PostBRBR"****"BR--IPeopleBRBR"A moving look at the value of human connection in a scary, chaotic world."BR--IEntertainment Weekly BRBR"Lauren Groff's dazzling new novel brings the flawed visions of a '60s commune to life... At a moment when so much floating anger struggles for articulation, it's Groff's essential human empathy that gives her work its urgency."BR--IVogueBRBR"One of our best young novelists brings a lost Eden of hippiedom freshly to life... Groff's prismatic prose style lends itself to the darker currents that run beneath the Arcadian dream... both poetic and ambitious."BR--IElleBRBR"[A] beautifully crafted novel... [it] gives full rein to [Groff's] formidable descriptive powers, as she summons both the beauty of striving for perfection and the inevitable devastation of failing so miserably to achieve it."BR--STARRED IBooklistBRBR"An astonishing novel, both in ambition and achievement."BR--STARRED IKirkus ReviewsBRBR"Arcadia feels true, as do the characters who populate this extraordinary novel."BR--Hannah Tinti, author of IThe Good ThiefBRBR"It's not possible to write any better without showing off."BR--Richard Russo, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel IEmpire FallsBRBR"Groff is one of our most talented writers, and IArcadia one of the most revelatory, magical, and ambitious novels I've read in years."BR--Kate Walbert, author of the INew York Times bestselling novel IA Short History of Women/P