Jennifer duBois is a recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently completing a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. Originally from western Massachusetts, she lives in Northern California.
“[An] astonishingly beautiful and brainy debut novel . . . Against
the backdrop of Russia’s recent political past, duBois conjures the
briefly intersecting lives of two intriguingly complex
strangers—prickly, introspective, and achingly lonely—who are
nevertheless kindred spirits. Her prose is both apt and
strikingly original . . . So how do we proceed when defeat is
inevitable? The stunning novel suggests an answer: We just do.
Perseverance, it seems, is its own kind of victory.” —O: The Oprah
Magazine
"Gorgeous . . . DuBois writes with haunting richness and fierce
intelligence. She has an equal grasp of politics and history, the
emotional nuances of her complex characters, and the intricacies of
chess. Irina and Aleksandr are difficult people, prickly and
formidable, but they’re also sympathetic and flawed, vulnerable and
human. DuBois’ evocations of Russia are lush, and her swashbuckling
descriptions, whether of chess games, a doomed political campaign,
or the anticipation of death, are moving yet startlingly funny—full
of bravado, insight, and clarity. A Partial History of Lost Causes
is a thrilling debut by a young writer who evidently shares the
uncanny brilliance of her protagonists.” —Kate
Christensen, Elle
"Jennifer duBois's first novel is a meticulously constructed tale
of intertwining destinies. Irina, a young American facing an
unbearable diagnosis, and Aleksandr, a former Soviet chess champion
turned dissident politician, are brought together by a
long-forgotten letter that asks how to carry on with a lost cause.
Ranging from Massachusetts to Moscow and covering several decades,
A Partial History of Lost Causes abounds and fascinates with dark
wit and poignant insight, chess and politics, frozen rivers and
neon nightclubs.” —Maggie Shipstead, Salon
“Hilarious and heartbreaking and a triumph of the imagination.
Jennifer duBois is too young to be this talented. I wish I
were her.”—Gary Shteyngart
“An amazing achievement—a braiding of historical, political, and
personal, each strand illuminating the other. Wonderful characters,
elusive glimpses of wisdom, and a gripping story that accelerates
to just the right ending.”—Arthur Phillips
“Thrilling, thoughtful, strange, gorgeous, political, and deeply
personal, Jennifer duBois’s A Partial History of Lost Causes is a
terrific debut novel. In prose both brainy and beautiful, she
follows her characters as they struggle to save each other. This is
a book to get lost in.”—Elizabeth McCracken
“By what exquisite strategy did duBois settle on this championship
permutation of literary moves? Her debut is a chess mystery with
political, historical, philosophical, and emotional heft, a paean
to the game and the humans who play it. DuBois probes questions of
identity, death, art, and love with a piercing intelligence and a
questing heart.”—Heidi Julavits
“Terrific . . . In urgent fashion, duBois deftly evokes Russia’s
political and social metamorphosis over the past thirty years
through the prism of this particular and moving
relationship.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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