The Lola Quartet

by Emily St. John Mandel

Overview

From the bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility—Gavin Sasaki was a promising young journalist in New York City until the day he was fired for plagiarism.

The last thing he wants is to sell foreclosed real estate for his sister Eilo’s company in their Florida hometown, but he’s in no position to refuse her job offer. Plus, there’s another reason to go home: Eilo recently met a ten-year-old girl who looks very much like Gavin and has the same last name as his high-school girlfriend, Anna, who left town abruptly after graduation.

Determined to find out if this little girl might be his daughter, Gavin sets off to track down Anna, starting with the three friends they shared back when he was part of a jazz group called “The Lola Quartet.” As Gavin pieces together their stories, he learns that Anna has been on the run for good reason, and soon his investigation into her sudden disappearance all those years ago takes a seriously dangerous turn.

Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101911990
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	146,002
Product dimensions:	5.18(w) x 7.99(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL's five previous novels include The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and has been translated into thirty-five languages. She lives in New York City.

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Excerpted from "The Lola Quartet"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Emily St. John Mandel.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

[An] ingeniously constructed literary thriller.”— Minneapolis Star Tribune 
 
 “[An] elegant, hypnotic novel. . . . An elegy for lost—and perhaps only imagined—innocence.” —The Washington Post
 
“Compelling. . . . Perhaps all novelists can be said to wrestle with morality; Mandel seems to wrestle with it at greater length and in greater depth than most. . . . First-rate fiction.” —Dallas Morning News
 
“A novel noir that wears its influences proudly on the beige sleeve of its trench coat…. Delightful.” —Paste

“Trumpets [Mandel’s] talents: her charismatic verbal grace and acuity, the rich atmosphere she creates.” —The Boston Globe
 
“Emily St. John Mandel is astonishing.” —Emma Straub, author of The Vacationers
 
“[Mandel] is a stunningly beautiful writer whose complex, flawed, and well-drawn characters linger with you.” —Sarah McCarry, Tor.com
 
“Fascinating.” —Booklist
 
“Riveting. . . . Evocative, intriguing, and complex, this novel is as smooth as the underbelly of a deadly, furtive reptile.” —Library Journal (starred review)
 
“A rewarding read.”  —Foreword magazine
 
“Result[s] in both sophistication and suspense.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“[Mandel’s] writing is pure elegance.” —Patrick DeWitt, author of Sisters Brothers

From the Publisher

The Lola Quartet was a high school jazz quartet composed of Gavin Sasaki and three of his classmates. Ten years pass before they reconnect, with Gavin returning from New York City in disgrace after being fired from his job as a journalist. He find the other three members of the quartet secretive and even hostile as he attempts to unravel a mystery from their high school days. Morgan Hallett narrates at an unhurried pace, keeping the same tone even as the point of view shifts. The story is revealed through a series of flashbacks, and Hallett voices the characters the same way in both the past and present, helping Mandel blur the lines between memory and reality. While much of the story is presented through narrative and read in Hallett’s soothing alto, a few of the characters are more differentiated, specifically Gavin’s high school girlfriend whom Hallett renders with a high-pitched innocence that sets her apart from the other characters. E.N. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2013 - AudioFile