Surprise of Burning

Playing a feverish hopscotch across our century, this resonant and compelling novel sifts through the legacy of a legendary blues singer - her music, her passions, her gifts for self-creation and self-destruction - as it charts the efforts of her son, a photojournalist specializing in war, to find his unknown father.Crowded with images, people, incidents, voices, and ideas, THE SURPRISE OF BURNING moves headlong through disparate worlds, from the jungles of Vietnam to the Paris hangouts of teenage bohemians circa 1961, from a hub of anarchist activity in 1930s New York to a tranquil country hideaway in war-ravaged England, from Algeria in the throes of its struggle for independence to Swing Street clubs and recording studio in the Age of Jazz.Story unfold within story. Paths of inquiry and pursuit crisscross to form an ominous web. The seductive and enigmatic Lela Maar, dead at the birth of her son, hovers over his life like a ghostly question mark. And continually, mysteries of identity arise, recede, find solution, and generate fresh mysteries that loom and cast a shadow on the relation between history and truth.A Dazzling Feat of Storytelling that marks the arrival of an extraordinary writer.