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SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2021
AN OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB SELECTION
AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF SEPTEMBER 2021

THE BRAND NEW NOVEL FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING, BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORY

‘Powers has extraordinary gifts as a writer’ GUARDIAN

‘Impressively precise in its scientific conjectures, Bewilderment is no less rich or wise in its emotionality’ OBSERVER

‘He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I’ve ever read. I’m in awe of his talent’ OPRAH WINFREY

Theo Byrne is a promising young scientist who has found a way to search for life on other planets dozens of light years away. He is also the widowed father of a most unusual nine-year-old. His son Robin is funny, loving and filled with plans. He thinks and feels deeply, adores animals and can spend hours painting elaborate pictures. He is also on the verge of being expelled from school for smashing his friend’s face with a thermos.

What can a father do, when the only solution offered to his rare and troubled boy is to put him on psychoactive drugs? What can he say when his boy comes to him wanting an explanation for a world that is clearly in love with its own destruction? The only thing for it is to take the boy to other planets, all while fostering his son’s desperate attempt to save this one.

At the heart of Bewilderment lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?

‘Both touching and finely written’ TELEGRAPH

‘It is impossible to deny the importance of Powers’s message’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Refreshing, original and moving’ EVENING STANDARD

Publisher Review

On The Overstory: It changed how I thought about the Earth and our place in it . . . It changed how I see things and that’s always, for me, a mark of a book worth reading. — Barack Obama One of our most lavishly gifted writers * New Yorker * Nothing less than brilliant — John Updike It’s not possible for Powers to write an uninteresting book — Margaret Atwood With its first few pages, Powers’ novel completely captivated us and with its last, it bowled us over. Powers creates a texture and specificity to our future that feels simultaneously sweepingly large and breathtakingly intimate, told through the most relatable point of view: the ferocious love of a parent for his child and his struggle to provide him a better tomorrow. — Leigh Kittay, Black Bear’s Head of Film On The Overstory: Really, just one of the best novels, period — Ann Patchett On The Overstory: Monumental . . . breath-taking . . . a gigantic fable of genuine truths — Barbara Kingsolver On The Overstory: Exhilarating . . . on almost every page you will find sentences that combine precision and vision * The Times * On The Overstory: The best book I’ve read in ten years. A remarkable piece of literature — Emma Thompson On The Overstory: An extraordinary novel . . . an astonishing performance . . . he is incredibly good at turning science into poetry * Guardian *