Florida

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE

ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

From the universally acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of Fates and Furies and Matrix

Florida is a superlative book (Boston Globe), frequently funny (San Francisco Chronicle), brooding, inventive and often moving (NPR Fresh Air) --as Groff is recognized as Florida's unofficial poet laureate, as Joan Didion was for California. (Washington Post)

In her thrilling new book, Lauren Groff brings the reader into a physical world that is at once domestic and wild--a place where the hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. A family retreat can be derailed by a prowling panther, or by a sexual secret. Among those navigating this place are a resourceful pair of abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple, a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring character--a steely and conflicted wife and mother.

The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even centuries, but Florida--its landscape, climate, history, and state of mind--becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a place of residence. Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. With shocking accuracy and effect, she pinpoints the moments and decisions and connections behind human pleasure and pain, hope and despair, love and fury--the moments that make us alive. Startling, precise, and affecting, Florida is a magnificent achievement.

Author: Lauren Groff
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: 06/05/2018
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781594634512


Award: National Book Awards - Finalist
Award: Kirkus Prize - Finalist


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 01/01/2018 pg. 64
Library Journal 03/01/2018 pg. 78
Publishers Weekly 04/09/2018
Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2018 pg. 15
Booklist 05/01/2018 pg. 61

About the Author
Lauren Groff is the New York Times bestselling author of three novels, The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, and Fates and Furies, and two short story collections, Florida and Delicate Edible Birds. She has won the PEN/O. Henry Award and The Story Prize, been a two-time finalist for the National Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, along with several Best American Short Stories anthologies, and she was named one of Granta's 2017 Best Young American Novelists. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, with her husband and sons.