Dodge City with Patrick deWitt
Tue 10 Nov 2026
7:00pm at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, 14-15 John St, Bath, BA1 2JL
All tickets include 15% off any books purchased on the night, a glass of wine or soft drink, author talk, Q&A and signing.
Other ways to book:
Email books@mrbsemporium.com, call 01225 331155 or pop into the shop at 14-15 John Street, Bath. BA1 2JL.
We are delighted to welcome the brilliant Patrick deWitt back to Mr B’s for the release of his new novel, Dodge City.
From the author of many Mr B’s faves – including Booker Prize-shortlisted The Sisters Brothers, and the mysterious Undermajordomo Minor – comes Dodge City, a thrilling novel about a young man on an amphetamine-fuelled cross-country road trip fleeing the Vietnam draft. A beautiful, sweeping and raucous portrait of a family in disarray and a country in flux, Dodge City confirms deWitt as one of our most brilliant satirists and a novelist of staggering heart.
Can’t make it to the event? Order a signed and dedicated copy here.
About the book:
1967, California. Lee Clarke is a strait-laced twenty-three-year-old, happily in love and ambling along at college until an ill-advised fistfight leads to his expulsion. Soon, he receives his draft notice to serve in the Vietnam War, which forces Lee to make the first political decision of his life: he will leave the country and his girlfriend and head for the Canadian border.
He signs up at a drive-away car delivery service, chancing into a new Jaguar bound for the East Coast. Carrying only a single suitcase and a bag of amphetamines, Lee knows he can’t go without saying his goodbyes.
In four different towns strung out along the US, Lee visits each member of his family: his father, an alcoholic World War Two veteran; his mother, engaged in a buoyantly manic performance with her shut-in sibling; his heartbroken, misanthropic brother Harry; and finally his twin sister, Grace, a brash, young psychiatric nurse-in-training mired in romantic drama. As Lee makes his stimulated progress across the country, his past keeps rising to meet him. He can’t help but wonder, what will his decision to leave mean for his future?
‘I adored every page of this wise, funny, charming novel’ – MAX PORTER
‘Funny, warm-hearted and beautifully written’ – THE TIMES
‘A rollicking, wise superb novel’ – THE INDEPENDENT
About the author:
Patrick deWitt is the author of six novels including Booker Prize shortlisted The Sisters Brothers (also adapted into a film starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix), as well as Undermajordomo Minor, French Exit (adapted into a film starring Michelle Pfeiffer), and more recently The Librarianist. Born in British Columbia, Canada, Patrick now resides in Portland, Oregon.