Books with author Richard Bowers

The author of the National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Echo Maker, Richard Powers "may well be one of the smartest novelists now writing" (Los Angeles Times Book Review)Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home DIY microbiology lab-the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to extract music from rich patterns beyond the ear's ability to hear-has come to the attention of Homeland Security. Panicked by the raid on his house, Els turns fugitive, waiting for the evidence to clear him and for the alarm surrounding his activities to blow over. His days in hiding provoke memories of a turbulent century of musical turf wars and cause Els to reflect on a life spent chasing after transcendent sounds to the bewilderment of an indifferent public.As the national hysteria for safety erupts again in the face of this latest threat, Els-the "Bioterrorist Bach"―feeling the noose around him tighten, embarks on a cross-country trip to visit the people in his past who have most shaped his failed musical journey. Through the help of these people―his ex-wife, his daughter and his long-time artistic collaborator― Els comes up with a plan to turn this disastrous collision with the security state into one last, resonant artwork that might reach an audience beyond his wildest dreams.

The Irish participation in the Crimean War and the Charge of the Light Brigade is told through the adventures of Irish teen Dick Donigan. As Dick lies injured, trapped under his dead horse on a Crimean battlefield, he reflects on the dramatic events that brought him to this pass. Orphaned by the potato famine, Dick and his sister Kathleen work sixteen-hour days to earn passage to the U.S. On the eve of their departure, a British sympathizer has Dick arrested which prompts a violent protest by local patriots. Dick and Kathleen escape to England where Dick is recruited to participate in the Crimean War. Spies, bureaucracy and incompetent leadership complicate Dick’s mission. What will be his destiny?

The author of the National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Echo Maker, Richard Powers "may well be one of the smartest novelists now writing" (Los Angeles Times Book Review)Seventy-year-old avant-garde composer Peter Els opens the door one evening to find the police on his doorstep. His home DIY microbiology lab-the latest experiment in his lifelong attempt to extract music from rich patterns beyond the ear's ability to hear-has come to the attention of Homeland Security. Panicked by the raid on his house, Els turns fugitive, waiting for the evidence to clear him and for the alarm surrounding his activities to blow over. His days in hiding provoke memories of a turbulent century of musical turf wars and cause Els to reflect on a life spent chasing after transcendent sounds to the bewilderment of an indifferent public.As the national hysteria for safety erupts again in the face of this latest threat, Els-the "Bioterrorist Bach"—feeling the noose around him tighten, embarks on a cross-country trip to visit the people in his past who have most shaped his failed musical journey. Through the help of these people—his ex-wife, his daughter and his long-time artistic collaborator— Els comes up with a plan to turn this disastrous collision with the security state into one last, resonant artwork that might reach an audience beyond his wildest dreams.

FROM THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE OVERSTORYRichard Powers' novel is a fascinating and profound exploration of the interaction of an individual human life and a corporate one. It tells two stories: the first that of an American company, which starts as a small family soap and candle-making firm in the early 1800s, and ends as a vast pharmaceuticals-to-pesticides combine in the 1990s. The second is that of a contemporary woman, living in the company town, who during the course of the novel is diagnosed and then finally dies of cancer, a cancer that is almost certainly caused by exposure to chemical wastes from the company's factories. Richly intellectually stimulating, deeply moving and beautifully written, Gain is very much a 'Great American Novel', an exploration of the history, uniqueness and soul of America, in the tradition of Underworld. But it is most reminiscent of Graham Swift's Waterland, another novel that combines history, both public and private, with contemporary lives, showing how individuals are both the victims and shapers of large-scale historical and economic forces