Vigil

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A BARACK OBAMA SUMMER READING PICK 2026 'The first must-read book of the year' Vogue 'Resonates deeply in our fractious, selfish age' Independent 'One of America's most distinguished and original writers' Spectator Order the latest book from the Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo - a playful, wise, electric novel taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO, in the twilight hours of his life, as he is ferried from this world into the next What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward. . . Not for the first time - in fact, for the 343rd time - Jill 'Doll' Blaine plummets to earth, head-first, rear-up, to escort another soul into the afterlife. But her newest charge, powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone, is unlike anyone she has encountered before. He refuses to be consoled, for he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it. isn't it? As death approaches, crowds of people and animals - worldly and otherworldly - begin to emerge, all demanding a reckoning. Brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark warmth and wit, asking the essential question: who else could we be but exactly who we are? Vigil was no. 10 in the Sunday Times Hardback Fiction chart and no. 1 in the New York Times Hardcover Fiction chart, w/e 1 February

George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Booker Prize. Three of his books - Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo - were chosen for the New York Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, and in 2013, he was named one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine. In 2025, he received the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.