The first big novel of 2022: an epic literary thriller set where America is right now, in which a band of unlikely heroes sets out on a quest to save one innocent life - and might end up saving us all.
Something is happening to teenagers across America, spreading through memes only they can parse.
At the Float Anxiety Abatement Center, in a suburb of Chicago, Simon Oliver is trying to recover from his sister's tragic passing. He breaks out to join a woman named Louise and a man called The Prophet on a quest as urgent as it is enigmatic. Who lies at the end of the road? A man known as The Wizard, whose past encounter with Louise sparked her own collapse. Their quest becomes a rescue mission when they join up with a man whose sister is being held captive by the Wizard, impregnated and imprisoned in a tower.
Noah Hawley's new novel is an adventure that finds unquenchable lights in dark corners. Unforgettably vivid characters and a plot as fast and bright as pop cinema blend in a Vonnegutian story that is as timeless as a Grimm's fairy tale. It is a leap into the idiosyncratic pulse of the American heart, written with the bravado, literary power, and feverish foresight that have made Hawley one of our most essential writers.
Award-winning author Noah Hawley is one of the most accomplished auteurs and versatile storytellers working in television, film and literature. Over the course of his more than 20-year career, Hawley's work as a novelist, screenwriter, series creator, showrunner and director has garnered acclaim--winning an Emmy(R), Golden Globe(R), PEN, Critics' Choice, and Peabody Award. As a bestselling author, Hawley has published six novels: A Conspiracy of Tall Men, Other People's Weddings, The Punch, The Good Father, Before the Fall and the upcoming Anthem.
"Hawley taps into our existential anxiety--and transforms it into a hefty page-turner that's equal parts horrific, catastrophic and, at times, strangely entertaining." - S. Kirk Walsh, The New York Times Book Review
"Hawley the fiction writer is at his best when pitching his taut setup and its well-drawn cast of characters." - USA Today
"Anthem is a Great American Novel for these tumultuous times--a provocative work of fiction that sees to the heart of things, cuts through the noise, and asks, 'How can we change, before it's too late?'" - Esquire
"Anthem, a blistering thriller that follows a group of teenagers on an adventure through an apocalyptic America much like our own." - Entertainment
"Terrifying, expertly crafted literary thriller." - Oprah Daily
"Hawley creates an all-too-plausible dystopia rendered believable through matter-of-fact prose. [He] makes this sing by combining the social commentary of a Margaret Atwood novel with the horrors of a Stephen King book." - Publisher's Weekly
"The plot-rich, cinematic story moves swiftly and compellingly, exciting reader interest and empathy. Anthem is truly an epic adventure." - Booklist
"[ANTHEM is] perhaps the first must-read novel of 2022, the kind of book that you'll be urging your friends to pick up throughout the year." - Book Reporter
"A masterly blend of mystery, suspense, tragedy, and shameful media hype . . . a gritty tale of a man overwhelmed by unwelcome notoriety, with a stunning, thoroughly satisfying conclusion." - Publishers Weekly
