CHRIS BOHJALIAN is the critically acclaimed author of ten novels, including Midwives (a Publishers Weekly Best Book and an Oprah's Book Club selection) and his most recent New York Times bestseller, Before You Know Kindness. His work has been translated into eighteen languages and published in twenty-one countries. He lives with his wife and daughter in Vermont.
Laurel Estabrook, a young social worker living in Vermont, becomes
obsessed with a box of photographs that belonged to a deceased
homeless man, Bobbie Crocker. An amateur photographer herself,
Laurel wonders how someone as destitute as Crocker came to possess
such high-quality photos, many of them featuring famous people and,
bizarrely, Laurel's childhood town. As she devotes more and more
time to researching Crocker's past, her friends and family become
concerned for her mental well-being. Six years previously, Laurel
was attacked by two men in the woods while riding her bike, and
though she recovered enough to finish college and get a job, she
remains fragile. Bohjalian, whose Midwives was an Oprah Book Club
selection, adds original and creative elements to this tale by
blending the story of The Great Gatsby with Laurel's story and
including photographs by a real-life homeless man named Bob
Campbell. Far from being simply a mystery story, this is a complex
exploration of the human psyche and its efforts to heal and survive
in whatever manner possible. Recommended for all fiction
collections.
-Library Journal, Starred Review
Psychological thriller, crime novel and "what-if" sequel to The
Great Gatsby--with significant twists. Schizophrenic, yes, and
alcoholic--but Bobbie Crocker isn't your stereotypical street
person. Bohjalian (Before You Know Kindness, 2004, etc.) invests
him with mystery; when he dies in Burlington, Vt., he leaves behind
photographs from 1960s issues of Life magazine. Eartha Kitt, Dick
Van Dyke, Muddy Waters--they're celebrity shots he took, combined
with elegant evocations of Jazz Age Long Island. Laurel Estabrook,
social worker at Crocker's shelter, discovers something else among
them: a snapshot of herself riding a bike, just as she had, seven
years before, when savaged by two thugs. The attack scarring her,
she'd retreated into PTSD therapy, affairs with comforting, if
noncommittal, father figures and a life less of ambition than
service. Crocker's photos provide Laurel clues to their strangely
interconnected pasts--and she sets out to decode them. Had the
homeless man actually been to the manor born, son of Tom and Daisy
Buchanan of fabled West Egg? His sister denies it, having spent
most of her 70 years trying to whitewash her
parents'reputation--Tom's brutality and Daisy's suspicious
involvement in the car crash that killed one of his lovers. Had
those wealthy, morally bankrupt parents caused Bobbie's "double
bind," provoking schizophrenia by instilling in an unwanted child
love/hate mixed messages? Or could Bobbie's father be someone yet
more notorious, the darkly glamorous star of Fitzgerald's
masterpiece? And why was Laurel's own likeness found in Crocker's
cache? Sleuthing obsessively, she discovers that Bobbie had a son
himself, a boy who grew up to terrify his father. And terrify her.
Conflating literary lore, photographic analysis and meditations on
homelessness and mental illness, Bohjalian produces his best and
most complex fiction yet. Ultra-clever, and moving, too.
- Kirkus, Starred Review "The Double Bind races toward a conclusion
that boasts a shocking twist. . .This elegantly crafted tale is
well worth delving into."
- Booklist "Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind is simply one of the
best written, most compelling, artfully woven novels to grace
bookshelves in years." --AP review
"Bohjalian is a master of literary suspense."
-Washington Post Book World
"Critics are giving Bohjalian...high marks for The Double Bind."
-USA Today
"[An] imaginatively crafted novel." -Newsweek
"Great fiction...un-put-downable." -People
"This is top-notch Bohjalian fiction." -Entertainment Weekly
"A page-turner with a wicked twist at the end." -LIFE
"[An] artfully crafted, terrifying new novel.... Bohjalian has
written a literary thriller." --LA Times
"Truth may be stranger than fiction, but this book makes the case
that truth is also more valuable as a source of inspiration."
-Daily News
"A literate thriller about homelessness, random brutality and an
obsession with characters from Fitzgerald's 'Great Gatsby.'" --New
York Post
"[Bohjalian writes] the sorts of books people stay awake all night
to finish, and The Double Bind exerts that same hypnotic tug."
--Washington Post Book World
"Clearly the most viscerally exciting of Bohjalian's normally
cerebral books." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"This psychological thriller...offers a chilling depiction of the
ways we choose to remember as well as what we forget." -Daily
News
"An intriguing mix of fact and fiction. . .powerful. . .a shocker"
--The Courant
"Bohjalian fills The Double Bind with gripping twists and turns."
-Redbook
"Part mystery and part psychological exploration...will certainly
be interesting book-group fodder." -The Denver Post
"Part psychological mystery and part literary puzzle." -The Record
(Bergen County, NJ)
"The suspense takes a twist at the end, which flips the story
upside down." - Vermont Today
Laurel Estabrook, a young social worker living in Vermont, becomes
obsessed with a box of photographs that belonged to a deceased
homeless man, Bobbie Crocker. An amateur photographer herself,
Laurel wonders how someone as destitute as Crocker came to possess
such high-quality photos, many of them featuring famous people and,
bizarrely, Laurel's childhood town. As she devotes more and more
time to researching Crocker's past, her friends and family become
concerned for her mental well-being. Six years previously, Laurel
was attacked by two men in the woods while riding her bike, and
though she recovered enough to finish college and get a job, she
remains fragile. Bohjalian, whose Midwives was an Oprah Book Club
selection, adds original and creative elements to this tale by
blending the story of The Great Gatsby with Laurel's story and
including photographs by a real-life homeless man named Bob
Campbell. Far from being simply a mystery story, this is a complex
exploration of the human psyche and its efforts to heal and survive
in whatever manner possible. Recommended for all fiction
collections.
-Library Journal, Starred Review
Psychological thriller, crime novel and "what-if" sequel to The
Great Gatsby--with significant twists. Schizophrenic, yes, and
alcoholic--but Bobbie Crocker isn't your stereotypical street
person. Bohjalian (Before You Know Kindness, 2004, etc.) invests
him with mystery; when he dies in Burlington, Vt., he leaves behind
photographs from 1960s issues of Life magazine. Eartha Kitt, Dick
Van Dyke, Muddy Waters--they're celebrity shots he took, combined
with elegant evocations of Jazz Age Long Island. Laurel Estabrook,
social worker at Crocker's shelter, discovers something else among
them: a snapshot of herself riding a bike, just as she had, seven
years before, when savaged by two thugs. The attack scarring her,
she'd retreated into PTSD therapy, affairs with comforting, if
noncommittal, father figures and a life less of ambition than
service. Crocker's photos provide Laurel clues to their strangely
interconnected pasts--and she sets out to decode them. Had the
homeless man actually been to the manor born, son of Tom and Daisy
Buchanan of fabled West Egg? His sister denies it, having spent
most of her 70 years trying to whitewash her
parents'reputation--Tom's brutality and Daisy's suspicious
involvement in the car crash that killed one of his lovers. Had
those wealthy, morally bankrupt parents caused Bobbie's "double
bind," provoking schizophrenia by instilling in an unwanted child
love/hate mixed messages? Or could Bobbie's father be someone yet
more notorious, the darkly glamorous star of Fitzgerald's
masterpiece? And why was Laurel's own likeness found in Crocker's
cache? Sleuthing obsessively, she discovers that Bobbie had a son
himself, a boy who grew up to terrify his father. And terrify her.
Conflating literary lore, photographic analysis and meditations on
homelessness and mental illness, Bohjalian produces his best and
most complex fiction yet. Ultra-clever, and moving, too.
- Kirkus, Starred Review "The Double Bind races toward a
conclusion that boasts a shocking twist. . .This elegantly crafted
tale is well worth delving into."
- Booklist "Chris Bohjalian's The Double Bind is simply one
of the best written, most compelling, artfully woven novels to
grace bookshelves in years." --AP review
"Bohjalian is a master of literary suspense."
-Washington Post Book World
"Critics are giving Bohjalian...high marks for The Double
Bind." -USA Today
"[An] imaginatively crafted novel." -Newsweek
"Great fiction...un-put-downable." -People
"This is top-notch Bohjalian fiction." -Entertainment
Weekly
"A page-turner with a wicked twist at the end." -LIFE
"[An] artfully crafted, terrifying new novel.... Bohjalian has
written a literary thriller." --LA Times
"Truth may be stranger than fiction, but this book makes the case
that truth is also more valuable as a source of inspiration."
-Daily News
"A literate thriller about homelessness, random brutality and an
obsession with characters from Fitzgerald's 'Great Gatsby.'"
--New York Post
"[Bohjalian writes] the sorts of books
people stay awake all night to finish, and The Double Bind
exerts that same hypnotic tug." --Washington Post Book
World
"Clearly the most viscerally exciting of Bohjalian's normally
cerebral books." -Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"This psychological thriller...offers a chilling depiction of the
ways we choose to remember as well as what we forget." -Daily
News
"An intriguing mix of fact and fiction. . .powerful. . .a shocker"
--The Courant
"Bohjalian fills The Double Bind with gripping twists and
turns." -Redbook
"Part mystery and part psychological exploration...will certainly
be interesting book-group fodder." -The Denver Post
"Part psychological mystery and part literary puzzle." -The
Record (Bergen County, NJ)
"The suspense takes a twist at the end, which flips the story
upside down." - Vermont Today
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |