The Canary 1-2

The Houson Author: Dona Tart Translator: Al-Harith Al-Nabhan The extraordinary story of a boy, his mother, and an artwork that changed her life — Maureen Corrigan, NPR Miraculously, the best-selling book in the United States and worldwide — over three million copies sold. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the Malabar Award. The thirteen-year-old New York boy, Theo Decker, is involved in an accident that takes his mother’s life. Theo is taken in by a wealthy family from Park Avenue because he is friends with their son, and his father had abandoned his family. He is bewildered by his strange new home, tormented by longing for his mother, and clings to the only thing that reminds him of her: a small painting with an enchanting mysterious magic that has come into his possession. Theo grows up and lives a life full of adventures... experiencing alienation, turmoil, love, and always drawn by the power of that painting — a violent attraction into a narrow, dangerous circle. An amazing, dark, captivating book that goes a long way toward explaining what made its author earn her place among the great American novelists, including John Updike, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison, and the late John Irving... A must-read for all lovers of great literature from this century and others. — Kevin Nance, USA Today