In the Distance

About the book

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZEFINALIST FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARDWINNER OF THE WHITING AWARDWINNER OF THE SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITINGWINNTER OF THE VCU CABELL FIRST NOVELIST AWARDWINNER OF THE NEW AMERICAN VOICES AWARDA PUBLISHERS WEEKLY TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEARThe first novel by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Trust, an exquisite and blisteringly intelligent story of a young Swedish boy, separated from his brother, who becomes a legend and an outlawA young Swedish immigrant finds himself penniless and alone in California. The boy travels east in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great current of emigrants pushing west. Driven back again and again, he meets criminals, naturalists, religious fanatics, swindlers, American Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend. Diaz defies the conventions of historical fiction and genre, offering a probing look at the stereotypes that populate our past and a portrait of radical foreignness.