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Also by Richard Powers:

Bewilderment, October 2021
Hardcover / e-Book
Orfeo, January 2014
Hardcover / e-Book
Generosity, October 2009
Hardcover
The Echo Maker, October 2006
Hardcover

ORFEO
By: Richard Powers

W.W. Norton
January 2014
On Sale: January 20, 2014
Featuring: Peter Els
385 pages
ISBN: 0393240827
EAN: 9780393240825
Kindle: B00DX5XAA6
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List

Fiction

In Orfeo, Powers tells the story of a man journeying into his past as he desperately flees the present. Composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home microbiology lab—the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to find music in surprising patterns—has aroused the suspicions of Homeland Security.

Panicked by the raid, Els turns fugitive. As an Internet-fueled hysteria erupts, Els—the "Bioterrorist Bach"—pays a final visit to the people he loves, those who shaped his musical journey. Through the help of his ex-wife, his daughter, and his longtime collaborator, Els hatches a plan to turn this disastrous collision with the security state into a work of art that will reawaken its audience to the sounds all around them. The result is a novel that soars in spirit and language by a writer who “may be America’s most ambitious novelist” (Kevin Berger, San Francisco Chronicle).

Media Buzz

All Things Considered - January 17, 2014