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The exquisite, much-anticipated new novel by the author of Ship Fever, winner of the National Book Award.
W. W. Norton
October 2007
On Sale: October 1, 2007
320 pages
ISBN: 0393061086
EAN: 9780393061086
Hardcover
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Fiction
In fall 1916, Americans debate whether to enter the European
war. "Preparedness parades" march and headlines report
German spies. But in an isolated community in the
Adirondacks, the danger is barely felt. At Tamarack Lake the
focus is on the sick. Wealthy tubercular patients live in
private cure cottages; charity patients, mainly immigrants,
fill the large public sanatorium. For all, time stands
still. Prisoners of routine and yearning for absent
families, the patients, including the newly arrived Leo
Marburg, take solace in gossip, rumor, and—sometimes—secret
attachments. An enterprising patient initiates a weekly discussion group.
When his well-meaning efforts lead instead to a tragic
accident and a terrible betrayal, the war comes home,
bringing with it a surge of anti-immigrant prejudice and
vigilante sentiment. The conjunction of thwarted desires and
political tension binds the patients so deeply that,
finally, they speak about what's happened in a single voice. The Air We Breathe, though entirely self-contained, extends
the web of connected characters begun with Ship Fever.
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