About this ebook
New York Times Bestseller
"Timeless and vast... The raw beauty of Ms. Groff’s prose is one of the best things about Arcadia. But it is by no means this book’s only kind of splendor." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"Even the most incidental details vibrate with life ... Arcadia wends a harrowing path back to a fragile, lovely place you can believe in." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post
In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this romantic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday. Arcadia’s inhabitants include Handy, the charismatic leader; his wife, Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah’s only child, Bit. While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. He falls in love with Helle, Handy’s lovely, troubled daughter. And eventually he must face the world beyond Arcadia.
In Arcadia, Groff displays her literary gifts to stunning effect.
"Fascinating." --People (****)
"It’s not possible to write any better without showing off." --Richard Russo, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls
"Dazzling." --Vogue
"Timeless and vast... The raw beauty of Ms. Groff’s prose is one of the best things about Arcadia. But it is by no means this book’s only kind of splendor." --Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"Even the most incidental details vibrate with life ... Arcadia wends a harrowing path back to a fragile, lovely place you can believe in." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post
In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding a commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this romantic utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday. Arcadia’s inhabitants include Handy, the charismatic leader; his wife, Astrid, a midwife; Abe, a master carpenter; Hannah, a baker and historian; and Abe and Hannah’s only child, Bit. While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. He falls in love with Helle, Handy’s lovely, troubled daughter. And eventually he must face the world beyond Arcadia.
In Arcadia, Groff displays her literary gifts to stunning effect.
"Fascinating." --People (****)
"It’s not possible to write any better without showing off." --Richard Russo, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls
"Dazzling." --Vogue
Ratings and reviews
3.4
791 reviews
Carol Koch-Worrell
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December 27, 2012
What a wonderful journey of thoughts, questions, and hope this book was. Every time I was sure of how things would end, I was surprised and delightfully led another direction in great detail. I grew to feel for each character and know them well. They will be missed. Their lives will remain full of potential and wonder, with some certain sadness along the way.
A Google user
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August 13, 2012
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William Cochran
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January 31, 2013
Although it started off a little slow, it speeds up and draws you in by the end. By the end I really felt like I knew the characters personally. A very enjoyable book.
About the author
Lauren Groff graduated from Amherst College and received an MFA in fiction from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Her books include The Monsters of Templeton, Delicate Edible Birds, and Fates and Furies. Arcadia won of the Medici Book Club Prize. Her fiction has also won the Paul Bowles Prize for Fiction, the PEN/O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines including the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Tin House, One Story, McSweeney's, and Ploughshares, and in the anthologies 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, and three editions of the Best American Short Stories.
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