Lacuna

<p><strong><em>New York Times</em> Bestseller </strong>- <strong>A Best Book of the Year: <em>New York Times</em> <em>Chicago Tribune</em> <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em> <em>Seattle Times</em> and <em>Kansas City Star</em> </strong>- <strong>Winner of the Orange Prize</strong></p><p><strong>Breathtaking. . . dazzling. -- <em>New York Times Book Review</em></strong></p><p><strong>Epic and deeply personal. . . . This is thought-provoking and potentially thought-changing historical fiction at its best. </strong>-- <strong><em>Dallas Morning News</em></strong></p><p><strong>In this powerfully imagined provocative novel Barbara Kingsolver Pulitzer Prize-winning author and</strong><strong> recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguish Contribution to American Letters </strong><strong> takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor FDR and J. Edgar Hoover. <em>The Lacuna</em> is the poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as well as an unforgettable portrait of the artist--and of art itself.</strong></p><p>Born in the United States raised in Mexico Harrison Shepherd lacks a sense of home in either. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen; from errands he runs in the streets; and one fateful day by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and the exotic imperious artist Frida Kahlo who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky an exiled political leader fighting for his life Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution newspaper headlines and howling gossip and a risk of terrible violence.</p><p>Meanwhile to the north the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. Through darkening years political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach--the lacuna--between truth and public presumption.</p><p>With deeply compelling characters a vivid sense of place and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life Kingsolver has created a rich and daring work of literature establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.</p>