Vigil

Vigil

by George Saunders
Publication Date: 27/01/2026

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Pre-order the latest book from the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo – a playful, wise, electric novel taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO, in the twilight hours of his life, as he is ferried from this world into the next


'He will be read long after these times have passed' Zadie Smith


What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward. . .


Not for the first time – in fact, for the 343rd time – Jill 'Doll' Blaine finds herself crashing down to earth, head-first, rear-up, to accompany her latest charge into the afterlife. She soon realises however that this man is not quite like the others.


For powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it… isn't it?


As death approaches, a cast of worldly and otherworldly visitors arrive. Crowds of people and animals – alive and dead – materialise, birds swarm the dying man's room, and associates from decades past show up, all clamouring for a reckoning.


In this electric novel brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark humour and warmth, spinning a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the inevitable question: who else could we be but exactly who we are?

ISBN:
9781526624338
9781526624338
Category:
Coping with death & bereavement
Publication Date:
27-01-2026
Language:
English
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing
George Saunders

George Saunders is the author of seven books, including the New York Times bestseller Tenth of December, which won the Folio Prize 2014 and was shortlisted for the National Book Award 2013, an essay collection, The Braindead Megaphone, and the critically acclaimed story collections Civil WarLand in Bad Decline, Pastoralia, and In Persuasion Nation.

In 2013, he gave a graduation lecture at Syracuse University, which was then published as a New York Times bestselling book, Congratulations, by the way. In 2006, he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship. He teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University.

In 2017 he was awarded The Man Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo.

Available for download after 27/01/2026

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