Literary Fiction spotlight
Vigil
by George Saunders
An oil executive dies, and the people around his body argue about what a life is worth.
Buy the book
From the Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo comes a second novel about a death, a wake, and the moral arithmetic of a comfortable modern life.
Publisher's blurb
Synopsis
Saunders returns to the polyphonic form that made Lincoln in the Bardo, this time around the deathbed and afterlife of an oil company CEO. Voices - employees, family, strangers affected by decisions made in rooms they never entered - accumulate into an argument about complicity, kindness and the stories we tell ourselves about harm done at a distance.
The editorial feature
Funnier and colder than its predecessor. Saunders remains the great American writer of institutional self-justification, and the novel's structure makes complicity audible rather than merely stated. Difficult to read quickly; almost impossible to put down.
Book details
- Genre
- Literary Fiction
- Released
- 27 January 2026
- Publisher
- Random House
- Featured on
- 27 January 2026
Where to buy
Vigil is available from these retailers.
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