The Accidental Tourist: A Novel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345452003 ISBN 13: 9780345452009

Publisher: Vintage, 2002

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 

“Incandescent, heartbreaking, exhilarating...One cannot reasonably expect fiction to be much better than this.” —The Washington Post

In this irresistible novel, Anne Tyler explores the slippery alchemy of attracting opposites, and the struggle to rebuild one’s life after unspeakable tragedy. Travel writer Macon Leary hates travel, adventure, surprises, and anything outside of his routine.  Immobilized by grief, Macon is becoming increasingly prickly and alone, anchored by his solitude and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts. Then he meets Muriel, an eccentric dog trainer too optimistic to let Macon disappear into himself. Despite Macon’s best efforts to remain insulated, Muriel up-ends his solitary, systemized life, catapulting him into the center of a messy, beautiful love story he never imagined. A fresh and timeless tale of unexpected bliss, The Accidental Tourist showcases Tyler’s talents for making characters—and their relationships—feel both real and magical.

Look for Clock Dance, the charming new novel from Anne Tyler, available now.

From the Inside Flap:

"POIGNANT . . . FUNNY . . . "THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST IS ONE OF HER BEST. . . . [TYLER] HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER."
-"The New York Times
Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon's insular world-and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.
"BITTERSWEET . . . EVOCATIVE . . . It's easy to forget this is the warm lull of fiction; you half-expect to run into her characters at the dry cleaners . . . Tyler [is] a writer of great compassion."
-"The "Boston Globe
"Tyler has given us an endlessly diverting book whose strength gathers gradually to become a genuinely thrilling one."
-"Los Angeles Times
"A DELIGHT . . . A GRACEFUL COMIC NOVEL ABOUT GETTING THROUGH LIFE."
-"The Wall Street Journal

From the Back Cover:

“INDISPUTABLY HER BEST BOOK . . .
It leaves one aching with pleasure and pain.”
–The Washington Post

“Hilarious . . . and touching . . . Anne Tyler is a wise and perceptive writer with a warm understanding of human foibles.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Comic . . . Sweetly perverse . . . A novel animated by witty invention and lively personalities.”
–Time

“Anne Tyler [is] covering common ground with uncommon insight. . . . Convincingly real.”
–People