11/22/63 King, Stephen

From the Publisher:
NOMINATED FOR A 2012 LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE

Dallas, 11/22/63: Three shots ring out.

President John F. Kennedy is dead.

Life can turn on a dime?or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father's sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away . . . but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake's friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession?to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner's storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jolie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful.

In Stephen King's ?most ambitious and accomplished? (NPR) novel, time travel has never been so believable. Or so terrifying.

Annotation:
Iconic author Stephen King enlists his readers on an adventure through time so remarkable that even the characters in the book find hard to believe. What if it were possible to travel back in time and change the course of history? That is exactly what small-town high school teacher Jack Epping discovers in 11/22/63: the opportunity to return to 1958 to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Taking on the new name George Amberson for his life in the 1950s, this teacher throws himself headfirst through the time portal (that mysteriously exists in his friend Al's diner pantry) and into his new life. Attempting to stop the assassination, George must track down the assailant--and come to understand his new (old) time. At just under 900 pages, this is a big book, and King makes the most of it--addressing age-old questions about human agency, love, and the flexibility of history. And because of King's masterful storytelling abilities, everyone--readers and unlikely heroes--will get swept away by 11/22/63. Selected by the editors of the New York Times Book Reviews as one of the Ten Best Books of 2011.Iconic author Steven King enlists his readers on an adventure through time that even the characters in the book find hard to believe. But because of King's masterful storytelling abilities, everyone--readers and unlikely heroes--will get swept away. What if it were possible to travel back in time and change the course of history? That is exactly what small-town high school teacher Jack Epping discovers in 11/22/63: the opportunity to return to 1958 to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Let the games begin!

Author Bio

Stephen King

Born in 1947, Stephen King has become a household name all over the world. His mother raised him and his brother after their father deserted the family in 1950. In high school, King began to write short stories, his first published work appearing in 1968. He attended the University of Maine, graduating with a B.S. in 1970. Up until his first novel appeared, King had worked in an industrial laundry, as a janitor, as well as an English teacher. CARRIE, his debut, was met by a largely indifferent public in 1974. It wasn't until two years later, after King's second novel 'SALEM'S LOT and the filmed version of CARRIE, that King became a major player in the horror field. THE SHINING, his 1977 haunted hotel novel, began a litany of bestsellers, including THE STAND, THE DEAD ZONE, PET SEMETARY, DOLORES CLAIBORNE, and many others. King's work is regarded as instrumental in bringing about a resurgence of interest in horror fiction in the 1970s and '80s. An extremely high percentage of King's voluminous literary output has been filmed, with varying degrees of success, but all serving to carry the name of Stephen King far and wide. He has written nonfiction, given lectures, acted in films, and continues to produce huge novels nearly every year, all of which become instant bestsellers. As an bizarre sidenote, during the summer of 1999 while walking along a back road in Maine, King was struck and seriously injured by a minivan whose driver apparently lost control of the vehicle while being distracted by his dog--thus creating exactly the kind of news item that might have inspired several of King's own novels.

Praise

"The pages of 11/22/63 fly by, filled with immediacy, pathos and suspense. It takes great brazenness to go anywhere near this subject matter. But it takes great skill to make this story even remotely credible. Mr. King makes it all look easy, which is surely his book's fanciest trick." - Janet Maslin 10/31/2011

"It all adds up to one of the best time-travel stories since H. G. Wells. King has captured something wonderful. Could it be the bottomlessness of reality? The closer you get to history, the more mysterious it becomes. He has written a deeply romantic and pessimistic book. It's romantic about the real possibility of love, and pessimistic about everything else." - Errol Morris 11/13/2011

Product Attributes

Book Format:		Paperback
Number of Pages:		0880
Publisher:		Gallery Books

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