The Air We Breathe
A Novel
17 October 2008
Territory Rights — Worldwide including Canada, but excluding the British Commonwealth.
Description
"An evocative panorama of America…on the cusp of enormous change" (Newsday) by the National Book Award-winning author of Ship Fever.
In the fall of 1916, America prepares for war—but in the isolated community of Tamarack Lake, the focus is on the sick. Wealthy tubercular patients live in private cure cottages; charity patients, mainly immigrants, fill the large public sanatorium. Prisoners of routine, they take solace in gossip, rumor, and—sometimes—secret attachments. But when the well-meaning efforts of one enterprising patient lead instead to a tragic accident and a terrible betrayal, the war comes home, bringing with it a surge of anti-immigrant prejudice and vigilante sentiment.
Andrea Barrett masterfully sets this luminous novel in a historical period of great progress in science and medicine—even in the art of war. Her richly complex men and women, with their passions and vulnerabilities, engage and haunt us.
Reviews
"Barrett’s powers of historical evocation, especially her knowledge of the scientific preoccupations of the time, are impressive." — The New Yorker
"Barrett eloquently blends scientific elements…with her diverse characters’ hopes and heartbreaks to bring the book to crackling life." — Allyssa Lee, People
"[The Air We Breathe] thoughtfully examines xenophobia during wartime, the manner in which political events impinge on personal lives and related attendant issues.…The book’s most winning aspect, however, is the manner in which Barrett keeps the narrator’s identity a mystery." — Tim Follos, Washington Post
"[Barrett’s] gift for story, for mining America’s past, and her ability to construct a specific moment in the quest for knowledge are remarkable." — Karen Heller, Philadelphia Inquirer
"Barrett enriches her story with science…In fact, her style, always stylish and exact, is at its most compelling when she’s describing her characters’ engagement in their scientific studies." — Atlantic
"A careful researcher and an even more deliberate writer.…This expertly paced and thoughtfully written book is ample testament to her gifts." — Corrie Pikul, Elle
"This novel is like an elegant ghost story, narrated by a chorus of not-quite-innocent spectral bystanders." — Washington Post Book World
"An evocative panorama of America…on the cusp of enormous change." — Newsday
"Richly detailed…A marvel of intelligent design, and a truly original cautionary tale, from one of the most interesting and unconventional of all contemporary American writers." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A deft and quietly wrenching tale of human misunderstanding." — Library Journal
"Vivid and engrossing." — Publishers Weekly
Standalone Ebook
9780393067286
COMING SOON