Be Mine

''A masterful writer'' - RAYMOND CARVEROver the course of four celebrated works of fiction and almost forty years, Richard Ford has crafted an ambitious, incisive and singular view of American life as lived. Unconstrained, astute, provocative, often laugh-out-loud funny, Frank Bascombe is, here, once more our guide to the great American midway.Now in the twilight of life, a man who has occupied many colourful lives - sportswriter, father, husband, ex-husband, friend, real estate agent - Bascombe finds himself in the most sorrowing role of all; caregiver to his son, Paul, diagnosed with ALS. On a shared winter''s odyssey to Mount Rushmore, Frank in typical Bascombe fashion faces down the mortality that is assured each of us, and in doing so confronts what happiness might signify at the end of days.In this memorable novel, Richard Ford puts on display the prose, wit and intelligence that make him one of the world''s most acclaimed living writers. Be Mine is a profound, funny, poignant love letter to our beleaguered world. ''One of the finest achievements of modern American fiction'' The Independent

'An American master'

Préface
From Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford: the final novel in the world of Frank Bascombe, one of the most indelible characters in American literature

Auteur

Richard Ford was born in Jackson, Mississippi. He has published eight novels and four collections of stories, including The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and the New York Times bestseller, Canada. Independence Day was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the first time the same book had won both prizes. Let Me Be Frank with You was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. His work has been translated into twenty-eight languages, and most recently was awarded the Prix Femina Étranger in France and the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature in Spain. Richard Ford lives in Maine with his wife.

Richard Ford was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1944. He has published seven novels and three collections of stories, including The Sportswriter, Independence Day, A Multitude of Sins and, most recently, The Lay of the Land. Independence Day was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the first time the same book had won both prizes.

Texte du rabat

'Ford's Frank Bascombe series stands as one of the finest achievements of modern American fiction. A fittingly mordant and brilliant conclusion' INDEPENDENT

In the run up to Christmas, we meet Frank Bascombe in the twilight of his days. He is a man who has occupied many colourful lives - sportswriter, father, husband, ex-husband, friend, real estate agent - but now Frank finds himself in the most sorrowing role of all: caregiver to his son, Paul, diagnosed with ALS. On a shared winter's odyssey to Mount Rushmore, Frank faces down the mortality assured each of us, and confronts what happiness might signify at life's end.

Over the course of four celebrated works of fiction and almost forty years, Richard Ford has crafted an ambitious, incisive and singular view of American life as lived. Unconstrained, astute, provocative, often laugh-out-loud funny, Frank Bascombe is once more our guide to the great American midway.

'A literary project matched in ambition only by John Updike's Rabbit series' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Ford's finely hewn prose remains an endless pleasure' DAILY MAIL

'Ford creates a reading experience that feels truer than your own experience ... Think of Be Mine as a chance to spend a last few hours with a friend' THE TIMES