‘The Candy House’ with Jennifer Egan

We are incredibly excited to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan, who’s coming all the way from the US to Mr B’s to discuss her brand new novel ‘The Candy House‘.

We have long been huge admirers of Egan’s work here, which ranges from the infamous ‘A Visit From the Goon Squad‘ (a novel so staggeringly different to anything we’d read before), to the astounding ‘Manhattan Beach‘, which further cemented Egan’s place on our wish list for author events! We very much hope you’ll join us for what is surely set to be a truly fascinating evening with one of the most dazzling and iconic writers of our time.

Staggeringly successful and brilliant tech entrepreneur Bix Bouton is desperate for a new idea.

He’s forty, with four kids, and restless when he stumbles into a conversation with mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalising” memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, Own Your Unconscious–that allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of others–has seduced multitudes. But not everyone.

In spellbinding linked narratives, Egan spins out the consequences of Own Your Unconscious through the lives of multiple characters whose paths intersect over several decades. Intellectually dazzling and extraordinarily moving, The Candy House is a bold, brilliant imagining of a world that is moments away. With a focus on social media, gaming, and alternate worlds, you can almost experience moving among dimensions in a role-playing game.

‘A fast-paced polyvoiced romp through America in the grip of a sinister tech that allows others into your mind. EEK!’ — Margaret Atwood, via Twitter