A Good American

George, Alex

ISBN 10: 0425253171 / ISBN 13: 9780425253175

Published by Penguin Publishing Group, 2013

About this Item

Shows minimal signs of wear and previous use. Can include minimal notes/highlighting. A portion of your purchase benefits nonprofits! - Note: Edition & format may differ from what is shown in stock photo & item details. May not include supplementary material (toys, access code, dvds, etc).

Seller Inventory # 584ZSU000ZO6_ns

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Good American
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0425253171
• ISBN 13: 9780425253175
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

“A beautifully written novel, laced with history and music.” —Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven

A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A BOOKPAGE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Everything he’d seen had been unimaginably different from the dry, dour streets of home, and to his surprise he was not sorry in the slightest. He was smitten by the beguiling otherness of it all.

 

And so began my grandfather’s rapturous love affair with America—an affair that would continue until the day he died.

This is the story of the Meisenheimer family, told by James, a third-generation American living in Beatrice, Missouri. It’s where his German grandparents—Frederick and Jette—found themselves after journeying across the turbulent Atlantic, fording the flood-swollen Mississippi, and being brought to a sudden halt by the broken water of the pregnant Jette.

 A Good American tells of Jette’s dogged determination to feed a town sauerkraut and soul food; the loves and losses of her children, Joseph and Rosa; and the precocious voices of James and his brothers, sometimes raised in discord…sometimes in perfect harmony. 

But above all, A Good American is about the music in Frederick’s heart, a song that began as an aria, was jazzed by ragtime, and became an anthem of love for his adopted country that the family still hears to this day.

About the Author

Alex George is an Englishman who lives, works, and writes in the middle of America. He studied law at Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in London and Paris before moving to the United States in 2003.