Overview

At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big-league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment-to oneself and to others.

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9781611131840

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Reviews

Harbach's big-hearted and defiantly old-fashioned debut demonstrates the rippling effects of a single baseball gone awry...Harbach manages incisive characterizations of his five main players. -- Publishers Weekly Holter Graham's performance of this bestselling first novel is a home run...Graham offers the equivalent of a full-cast production. Conversation drives this book, and Graham reproduces the interactions so realistically and effortlessly that the listener feels like a silent participant. All the major characters-male, female, young, old-have distinct and consistent voices. Between conversations, the narrative moves along at an easy, listenable pace. All in all, this book has something for everyone. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. -- AudioFile I could not put it down. It takes both a stellar novel and an amazing narrator to get me to listen to an audiobook without multitasking. I was blown away by Graham's ability to switch between the four POVs, bringing compassion and depth to every character. He's also narrated a staggering array of science fiction and fantasy titles, which I can't wait to break into it. -- BookRiot (audio review) Draws readers into the lives of his characters, plumbing their psyches with remarkable psychological acuity and exploring the transformative effect that love and friendship can have on troubled souls. And, yes, it's a hell of a baseball story, too, no matter who wins. -- Booklist (starred review) There's just something so easy and riveting about the way this book's layers unfold; not since Lonesome Dove have I been so sorry to let a group of characters go. -- GQ magazine One of those rare novels...[that] dazzles and bewitches and inspires. -- James Patterson, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Chad Harbach grew up in Wisconsin and was educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia. He is a cofounder and coeditor of n+1. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Art of Fielding. Holter Graham, award-winning audiobook narrator, has appeared in many films, including Fly Away Home, Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive, and Hairspray. His television credits include Army Wives, Wasted, Damages, and Law & Order, among others. Graham is the winner of twelve AudioFile Earphones Awards.

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