Synopses & Reviews
“Original and arresting….[Joness] stories will touch chords of empathy and recognition in all readers.”
—
Washington Post “These 14 stories of African-American life…affirm humanity as only good literature can.”
—Los Angeles Times
A magnificent collection of short fiction focusing on the lives of African-American men and women in Washington, D.C., Lost in the City is the book that first brought author Edward P. Jones to national attention. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and numerous other honors for his novel The Known World, Jones made his literary debut with these powerful tales of ordinary people who live in the shadows in this metropolis of great monuments and rich history. Lost in the City received the Pen/Hemingway Award for Best First Fiction and was a National Book Award Finalist. This beautiful 20th Anniversary Edition features a new introduction by the author, and is a wonderful companion piece to Joness masterful novel and his second acclaimed collection of stories, All Aunt Hagars Children.
Review
"Fine, fine work a voice that's new and strong but steeped in the traditions of African-American literature, spoken and written, in a voice already in its quiet, assured, marvelous way, extending those traditions." John Edgar Wideman
Review
"Insightful portraits of young people and frank, unsensationalized depictions of horrifying social ills make this a poignant and promising first effort." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Jones instills humanity in his characters and stories." Library Journal
Synopsis
The nation's capital that serves as the setting for the stories in Edward P. Jones's prizewinning collection,
Lost in the City, lies far from the city of historic monuments and national politicians. Jones takes the reader beyond that world into the lives of African American men and women who work against the constant threat of loss to maintain a sense of hope. From "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons" to the well-to-do career woman awakened in the night by a phone call that will take her on a journey back to the past, the characters in these stories forge bonds of community as they struggle against the limits of their city to stave off the loss of family, friends, memories, and, ultimately, themselves.
Critically acclaimed upon publication, Lost in the City introduced Jones as an undeniable talent, a writer whose unaffected style is not only evocative and forceful but also filled with insight and poignancy.
About the Author
Edward P. Jones, the New York Times bestselling author, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World; he also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short listed for the National Book Award. His second collection, All Aunt Hagars Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C.