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'Russell Banks is, word for word, idea for idea, one of the great American novelists. Foregone is a book about not coming to a conclusion. Banks presents us with a series of mirrors, some of them broken, some of them intact, and all of them wildly reflective of our times. It is a book about the shifting shapes of memory and the chimerical nature of our lives' - Colum McCann; 'Russell Banks, as cinematographer, is known to move in close. Foregone focuses his sharp eye on the feints and fictions amid life's facts, as he reveals his fascinatingly fallible character, Fife, whose personal life has been contextualized by history. As we zig-zag through the character's past and present, it becomes apparent that the writer is simultaneously, and subtly, demonstrating the act of writing fiction. Fife is aptly named; he's an instrument piercing the soundtrack we call life, as the drummer marches on' - Ann Beattie; 'Banks, who turned 80 this year, explores aging, memory, and reputation in thoughtful and touching ways, enhanced by the correspondence between aspects of Leo's life and the writer's own history' - Kirkus (starred review); 'Foregone is a subtle meditation on a life composed of half-forgotten impulses and their endless consequences, misapprehensions of others that are accepted and exploited almost passively, a minor heroism that is only enhanced by demurral. In the rages of a sick old man profound questions arise-what is a life? A self? And what is lost when truth destroys the fabrications that sustain other lives?' - Marilynne Robinson; 'Banks, a conduit for the confounded and the unlucky, a writer acutely attuned to place and ambiance, is at his most magnetic and provocative in this portrait of a celebrated documentary filmmaker on the brink of death... Masterful' - Booklist (starred review)

The story of Fife's early life - heavily based on Banks's own - is graphic, gripping -- David Grylls * Sunday Times * It's little wonder that Russell Banks has won major awards for his subtle, seductive novels, and Foregone - the author's first new novel for a decade - also deserves a place among prize-winners. Banks's style is haunting, meditative and gripping, with its protagonist's personal revelations striking compelling rhythmic, resonant beats * LoveReading (eBook of the month) * The questions of what is true, what is a consequence of Fife's disintegrating mind, and whether the story of a life can ever be marshalled into a coherent whole, run through this...artful slice of meta-fiction like quicksilver. Hard-going sometimes, but worth it -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail * Foregone is, by far, the most cunningly metafictional novel of the author's career... Banks is one of the most sociologically minded of contemporary American authors... he is still working at the height of his powers... a tale of deep grace and significance... If Foregone turns out to be Banks's final novel (and, given its many strengths, one hopes not), it is a profoundly compelling valedictory -- Rob Latham * Los Angeles Review of Books * Gripping, human, beautifully written - Foregone is there with the best of Russell Banks' work. I loved it -- Roddy Doyle

'As always, Banks's prose has remarkable force to it... there is such brio in the writing... that we follow Fife into the depths. The book's real theme is the curse of being convinced that one is unlovable. And who among us hasn't suffered that conviction to one degree or another?' - New York Times ;'Foregone is a subtle meditation on a life composed of half-forgotten impulses and their endless consequences, misapprehensions of others that are accepted and exploited almost passively, a minor heroism that is only enhanced by demurral. In the rages of a sick old man profound questions arise - what is a life? A self? And what is lost when truth destroys the fabrications that sustain other lives?' - Marilynne Robinson ;'Russell Banks is, word for word, idea for idea, one of the great American novelists. Foregone is a book about not coming to a conclusion. Banks presents us with a series of mirrors, some of them broken, some of them intact, and all of them wildly reflective of our times. It is a book about the shifting shapes of memory and the chimerical nature of our lives' - Colum McCann ;'Russell Banks, as cinematographer, is known to move in close. Foregone focuses his sharp eye on the feints and fictions amid life's facts, as he reveals his fascinatingly fallible character, Fife, whose personal life has been contextualized by history. As we zig-zag through the character's past and present, it becomes apparent that the writer is simultaneously, and subtly, demonstrating the act of writing fiction. Fife is aptly named; he's an instrument piercing the soundtrack we call life, as the drummer marches on' - Ann Beattie ;'Banks' crystalline storytelling is both one man's deathbed quest to grasp his own life and a pure pleasure to read' - Oprah Mag (Most Anticipated Books of 2021) ;'A powerful novel' - Boston Globe

'As always, Banks's prose has remarkable force to it... there is such brio in the writing... that we follow Fife into the depths. The book's real theme is the curse of being convinced that one is unlovable. And who among us hasn't suffered that conviction to one degree or another?' - New York Times Book Review 'Foregone is a subtle meditation on a life composed of half-forgotten impulses and their endless consequences, misapprehensions of others that are accepted and exploited almost passively, a minor heroism that is only enhanced by demurral. In the rages of a sick old man profound questions arise-what is a life? A self? And what is lost when truth destroys the fabrications that sustain other lives?' - Marilynne Robinson 'During a career stretching almost half a century, Russell Banks has published an extraordinary collection of brave, morally imperative novels. The same marrow-delving impulse runs through them all... He traces the forces that influence whole societies as deftly as he explores the impulses that drive ordinary people...a remarkably fluid use of prose to represent the experience of delirium while wrestling to the final moments with the challenge of absolution... in this complex and powerful novel, we come face to face with the excruciating allure of redemption' - Washington Post 'Russell Banks is, word for word, idea for idea, one of the great American novelists' - Colum McCann 'Russell Banks, as cinematographer, is known to move in close. Foregone focuses his sharp eye on the feints and fictions amid life's facts, as he reveals his fascinatingly fallible character, Fife, whose personal life has been contextualized by history. As we zig-zag through the character's past and present, it becomes apparent that the writer is simultaneously, and subtly, demonstrating the act of writing fiction' - Ann Beattie 'Vibrant new novel by a grand man of American letters... Banks' crystalline storytelling is both one man's deathbed quest to grasp his own life and a pure pleasure to read' - Oprah Mag 'The most anticipated books of 2021' 'A powerful novel' - Boston Globe 'Banks, a conduit for the confounded and the unlucky, a writer acutely attuned to place and ambiance, is at his most magnetic and provocative in this portrait of a celebrated documentary filmmaker on the brink of death... Masterful' - Booklist (starred review) 'Strikingly effective... Banks explores aging, memory, and reputation in thoughtful and touching ways... A challenging, risk-taking work marked by a wry and compassionate intelligence.' - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) 'The mixture of bravado and vulnerability is characteristic of Mr. Banks's impressive body of work, whose range has been underappreciated' - Wall Street Journal

Author Information

Russell Banks published ten novels, six short story collections, and four poetry collections.  His novels Cloudsplitter and Continental Drift were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.  Two of Banks's novels have been adapted for feature-length films, The Sweet Hereafter (winner of the Grand Prix and International Critics Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival) and Affliction (which earned a 'Best Supporting Actor' Oscar for James Coburn).  His work has won numerous awards, among them a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships, O. Henry and Best American Short Story Award, and the Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. One of America's most prestigious fiction writers, Russell Banks was president of the International Parliament of Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He passed away in January 2023.

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