The Canary (two parts)

The extraordinary story of a boy and his mother and a piece of art that changed her life - Maureen Corrigan, NPR. Miraculously, the best-selling book in the United States and worldwide - more than three million copies sold. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the Malaparte Prize. The thirteen-year-old New York boy, Theo Decker, is involved in an accident that takes his mother's life. Theo takes refuge with a wealthy family from Park Avenue because he is friends with their son, and his father had abandoned his family. He is puzzled 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 charm that has come into his possession. Theo grows up and lives a life full of adventures... experiencing alienation, turmoil, love, and always drawn irresistibly by the power of that painting, a fierce attraction pulling him into a dangerous narrow circle. An amazing, dark, captivating book that largely explains what made its author rank 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 of this century and others. — Kevin Nance, USA Today