A Guide for the Perplexed: A Novel

by Dara Horn Narrated by Carrington MacDuffie

Overview

A thrilling new novel exploring how memory shapes the soul, by "an astonishing storyteller" (Financial Times)

Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented a program that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt's postrevolutionary chaos, Josie is kidnapped-leaving Judith free to usurp her sister's life, including her husband and daughter, while Josie's talent for preserving memories becomes her only hope of escape.

A century earlier, Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor, hunts for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. What he finds will reveal the power and danger of the world Josie's work brings into being-a world where nothing is ever forgotten.

Interweaving stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a spellbinding tale sure to bring a vast new readership to the acclaimed work of Dara Horn.

Editorial Reviews

Boston Globe - Saul Austerlitz

"[A] humane, erudite novel."

Jami Attenberg

"[An] intense, multilayered story… Horn's writing comes from a place of deep knowledge…"

Nature - Barbara Kiser

"Computer science and medieval philosophy mesh in Dara Horn’s accomplished novel about digital dangers and the nature of memory."

Elif Batuman

"It’s not every day you come across a genuinely page-turning kidnapping story that is also replete with historical, psychological, and interpretive insights into Maimonides, envy, and motherhood, not to mention replicating the narrative structure and central themes of the biblical story of Joseph. A Guide for the Perplexed is Dara Horn’s most ambitious, audacious, edifying, and entertaining novel yet."

Miami Herald - Andrew Ferman

"Wondrous…riveting and suspenseful…A novelist at the height of her powers."

Tablet Magazine

"Horn is embracing her own, livelier brand of Jewish history, embodied in the joys of discovering—and creating—the past anew."

Starred Review Booklist

"[Within A Guide for the Perplexed] beats the living heart of a very human drama, one that will have readers both caught up in the suspense and moved by the tragic dimensions of the unresolved dilemma at the core of the story."

Geraldine Brooks

"Intricate and suspenseful, A Guide for the Perplexed is both learned and heartfelt, an exploration of human memory, its uses and misuses, that spans centuries in a twisty braid full of jaw dropping revelations and breathtaking reversals. An elegant and brainy page-turner from a master storyteller."

Entertainment Weekly

"Horn moves seamlessly back and forth in time."

Booklist (starred review)

"[Within A Guide for the Perplexed] beats the living heart of a very human drama, one that will have readers both caught up in the suspense and moved by the tragic dimensions of the unresolved dilemma at the core of the story."

Boston Globe

"Dara Horn's fourth, and best…. [A] humane, erudite novel."

Wendy Smith

"Riveting…This is extraordinary material, emotionally resonant and intellectually suggestive, and Horn’s portraits of the sisters are wonderfully ambiguous…[Horn] interweaves historical and contemporary tales to create intriguing echoes and layers of metaphor…Horn’s searing family drama easily encompasses whole worlds of political, philosophical and moral conflicts…Beautifully written and overwhelmingly sad."

NBC's Weekend Today Show - Bill Goldstein

"[A Guide for the Perplexed] is so beautiful, so mystical, so exciting… I really urge you to read Dara Horn."

Jewish Daily Forward

"A Guide for the Perplexed is a richly layered book that leaves a reader…grateful and impressed."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169836424
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	09/09/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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