Bloomsbury to Publish French Exit by Patrick deWitt
A comedy/tragedy of manners. The new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted author of The Sisters Brothers
Frances Price – tart widow, possessive mother and Upper East Side force of nature – is in dire straits, beset by scandal. Her adult son Malcolm is no help, mired in a permanent state of arrested development. And then there’s their cat, who Frances believes houses the spirit of her late husband, an infamously immoral lawyer whose gruesome tabloid death rendered them social outcasts.
To put their troubles behind them, the trio cut their losses and head for the exit. Their beloved Paris becomes the backdrop for a giddy drive to self-destruction, helped along by a cast of singularly curious characters: a bashful private investigator, an aimless psychic and Mme. Reynard, friendly American expat and aggressive houseguest.
Brimming with pathos, warmth and wit, French Exit is a one-of-a-kind tragedy of manners, a riotous send-up of high society and a moving story of mothers and sons.
- Edith Wharton on acid. A contemporary comedy of manners as only Patrick de Witt could write it.
- For fans of original, witty and entertaining fiction. Think Wes Anderson, George Saunders with a dash of F Scott Fitzgerald
- DeWitt is a prize-winner and an exciting addition to the Bloomsbury list; The Sisters Brothers was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, won the Governor General’s Award and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize
- A lead title for Bloomsbury, publication will be accompanied by a dynamic and large-scale marketing campaign
- A film of The Sisters Brothers starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed and John C. Reilly is due out in 2018
Reviews
“My favourite book of his yet. The dialogue is dizzyingly good, the world so weird and fresh. A triumph from a writer truly in the zone” – Maria Semple, author of the bestselling ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’
“French Exit made me so happy – I feel as if I have downed a third martini, stayed up past sunrise, and still woken up refreshed. Brilliant, addictive, funny and wise, DeWitt’s latest has enough charm to last you long after you’ve put it down, which is what so many of us need in a book. I think you need it, too” – Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of ‘Less’
Author Biography
Patrick deWitt is the author of The Sisters Brothers, which won the Governor General’s Award and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Walter Scott Prize. He also is the author of Ablutions, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, and Undermajordomo Minor. The Sisters Brothers is being adapted for film by Jacques
Audiard (Rust and Bone, A Prophet), to star Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Riz Ahmed and John C. Reilly, for release in 2018. Born in British Columbia, Canada, deWitt now resides in Portland, Oregon.