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A Guide for the Perplexed: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A thrilling new novel exploring how memory shapes the soul, by "an astonishing storyteller" (Financial Times)
Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented a program that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt's postrevolutionary chaos, Josie is kidnapped—leaving Judith free to usurp her sister's life, including her husband and daughter, while Josie's talent for preserving memories becomes her only hope of escape.
A century earlier, Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor, hunts for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. What he finds will reveal the power and danger of the world Josie's work brings into being—a world where nothing is ever forgotten.
Interweaving stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a spellbinding tale sure to bring a vast new readership to the acclaimed work of Dara Horn.
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“Another richly textured blend of history, psychology,religion, and human emotion…Yes, the novel is as intricately constructed as Joseph’scoat of many colors, and, yes, it echoes the thematic density of the philosophicalwork after which it is named, but beneath all that beats the living heart of avery human drama, one that will have readers both caught up in the suspense andmoved by the tragic dimensions of the unresolved dilemma at the core of thestory.”
— Booklist (starred review)
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“It’s not every day you come across a genuinely page-turning kidnapping story that is also replete with historical, psychological, and interpretive insights into Maimonides, envy, and motherhood, not to mention replicating the narrative structure and central themes of the biblical story of Joseph. A Guide for the Perplexed is Dara Horn’s most ambitious, audacious, edifying, and entertaining novel yet.”
— Elif Batuman, New York Times bestselling author -
“Horn builds on the idea of the cabinet of memories throughout the book, questioning which we want to remember and which we would rather forget, as well as the relevance of our memories to our present lives and how they can hold us back…I admired Horn’s intensity and integrity, much as I admired the same qualities in her characters.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Horn raises intriguing questions—including some of the eternal variety and others very much of this moment.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“What do computerized data storage, sibling rivalry, the Book of Ruth, and Egyptian uncertainty after the Arab Spring have in common? They’re all part of this latest work about two crucial aspects of being human: the ability to remember and to love. Horn has already proven herself by being named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists and winning two National Jewish Book Awards. A sure bet.”
— Library Journal -
“A debut novel from the American cofounder of Granta that, appropriating its title from the work by the great Talmudic scholar Maimonides, provides an ingenious if metaphorical twist to the events of 1492.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Intricate and suspenseful, A Guide for the Perplexed is both learned and heartfelt, an exploration of human memory, its uses and misuses, that spans centuries in a twisty braid full of jaw-dropping revelations and breathtaking reversals. An elegant and brainy page-turner from a master storyteller.”
— Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize Winner and New York Times bestselling author
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About Dara Horn
Dara Horn is the author of five novels and one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. She has taught Jewish literature at Harvard, Sarah Lawrence College, and Yeshiva University.
About Carrington MacDuffie
Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.