Publisher, Random House Audiobooks (October 18, 2011)

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A sweeping, propulsive, darkly humorous new novel by the best-selling author of Snow Falling on Cedars: a story of destiny, desire, and destruction that reimagines Sophocles' Oedipus Rex for our own era.

In Seattle in 1962, Walter Cousins, a mild-mannered actuary—“a guy who weighs risk for a living”—takes a risk of his own, and makes the biggest error of his life. He sleeps with Diane Burroughs, the sexy, not-quite-legal British au pair who’s taking care of his children for the summer. Diane gets pregnant and leaves their baby on a doorstep, but not before turning the tables on Walter and setting in motion a tragedy of epic proportions. Their orphaned child, adopted by an adoring family and named Edward Aaron King, grows up to become a billionaire Internet tycoon and an international celebrity—the “King of Search”—who unknowingly, but inexorably, hurtles through life toward a fate he may have no power to shape.

An instant classic—David Guterson’s most daring and dazzling novel yet—that brings a contemporary urgency to one of the greatest stories of all time.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Alfred Music Publishing Co. Inc.: Excerpt from “Do You Remember Walter?” words and music by Raymond Douglas Davies, copyright © 1969, copyright renewed by Davray Music Ltd. and ABKCO Music Inc., 85 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003. All rights on behalf of Davray Music Ltd. administered by Unichappell Music Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Alfred Music Publishing Co. Inc.

About the Author: David Guterson is the author of Snow Falling on Cedars and East of the Mountains, and of the story collection The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind. A Guggenheim Fellow and PEN/Faulkner Award winner, he lives in Washington State.

About the Performer: Arthur Morey has recorded or been featured in a number of audiobook recordings including titles by John Updike, E.L. Doctorow, Richard Russo, John Irving, and John McCain. He attended Harvard and the University of Chicago, acted in a number of productions off-Broadway in New York and off-Loop in Chicago, and performed as a singer-songwriter with Il Piccolo Teatro di Milano. He taught performance and writing at Fordham, Northwestern, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worn other hats in the book business—ghost writing and editing books on politics, medicine, literary criticism and self-help.