The Ghost Writer: A Novel

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE AND THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

“Further evidence that Roth can do practically anything with fiction. His narrative power—the ability to delight the reader simultaneously with the telling and the tale—is superb.” —The Washington Post

The first of Philip Roth's novels narrated by the iconic Nathan Zuckerman, The Ghost Writer explores the precarious balance between literature and life when the budding writer becomes infatuated with an enigmatic woman—and the possibilities of her murky past—at the home of his literary idol.

Nathan Zuckerman is a young writer with great talent but also great shame, having been accused by his own parents of writing a treacherous and antisemitic story. Zuckerman is doubly grateful when he receives an invitation to the Berkshires, both because he can escape his parents, and because the solicitation is from his literary idol, the withdrawn genius E.I. Lonoff.

In Lonoff's secluded home in the mountains, Zuckerman is introduced to the writer's wife, Hope. He also catches a glimpse of Amy Bellette, a dark-haired beauty whose relationship with their host is unclear. Over a disturbed and confusing dinner, Zuckerman picks up on shreds of Amy's haunting past and witnesses the glaring disintegration of Lonoff's marriage. That night, as Zuckerman speculates more about Amy, her past, and his own future, his active imagination begins to connect the disparate dots. Amy might be disguising an identity more famous than she lets on, one that could change history and redeem him forever.

"Further evidence that Roth can do practically anything with fiction. His narrative power—the ability to delight the reader simultaneously with the telling and the tale—is superb." - Washington Post

"Remarkable ... One of Philip Roth's best short fictions." - New York Times

“Roth’s most controlled and elegant work … serious, intelligent, dramatic, acutely vivid, slyly and wickedly funny … seductive far beyond its brief efficiency.” - Village Voice