Stoner

The greatest rediscovered classic of recent years, Stoner is a literary legend - now repackaged with a more commercial, eye-catching and human-centred cover image.Read the greatest rediscovered classic of recent years'A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life' Ian McEwanWilliam Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death, his colleagues remember him rarely.Yet with truthfulness, compassion and intense power, this novel uncovers a story of universal value - of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history - and in doing so reclaims the significance of an individual life.'A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise and elegant novel' Nick Hornby'A terrific novel of echoing sadness' Julian Barnes

Winner of Waterstones Book of the Year 2013 (UK)
Winner of Publisher's Publicity Circle Awards:Nielsen Award for a Generic Campaign 2014 (UK)

“A terrific novel of echoing sadness”

-- Julian Barnes
It's simply a novel about a guy who goes to college and becomes a teacher. But its one of the most fascinating things that you've ever come across -- Tom Hanks Time
I was stunned by it... beautifully written in simple but brilliant prose, a novel of an ordinary life, an examination of a quiet tragedy, the work of a great but little-known writer Guardian
One of the great unheralded 20th century American novels...Almost perfect -- Bret Easton Ellis
One of the great forgotten novels of the past century. I have bought at least 50 copies of it in the past few years, using it as a gift for friends. It is universally adored by writers and readers alike...so beautifully paced and cadenced that it deserves the status of classic Guardian
A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life… I’m amazed a novel this good escaped general attention for so long -- Ian McEwan
A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise, and elegant novel The Believer
Something rarer than a great novel -- it is a perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, that it takes your breath away...few stories this sad could be so secretly triumphant, or so exhilarating. New York Times
A beautiful and moving novel, as sweeping, intimate and mysterious as life itself -- Geoff Dyer
The most extraordinary work of fiction I've read in a long time... If you're looking for a book that's simple and subtle, warmly human and at the same time utterly pitiless in his rendition of the vicissitudes of an ordinary existence, here's one you will read again and again New Statesman
Unquestionably one of the finest novels of the 20th century, its genius lies in its candour and in prose that simmers with subtle intent. Irish Times
The word-of-mouth hit of the summer. Read it and you’ll see why Daily Telegraph
It’s as if this novel is about all of us: our hopes, disappointments and sorrows… a lesson in values, told with love and awe -- Bel Mooney Daily Mail
A wonderful novel, rich and sombre, a record of pain and less but also of moments of vision and tenderness... flawless -- Adam Foulds Independent

John Williams was an author, editor and professor. Born in 1922 in Texas, he served in the United States Army Air Force from 1942 to 1945 in China, Burma and India. His first novel, Nothing But the Night, was published in 1948. After receiving his PhD in 1954, Williams returned to the University of Denver where he first studied to teach literature and creative writing for thirty years. It was during this time that he wrote the novels Butcher's Crossing (1960) and Stoner (1965). His last novel, Augustus, won the National Book Award in 1973. John Williams died in Arkansas in 1994.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN MCGAHERN ' Stoner is a perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, that it takes your breath away' New York Times William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. Later, he becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death his colleagues remember him rarely. Yet with truthfulness, compassion and intense power, this novel uncovers a story of universal value. Stoner tells of the conflicts, defeats and victories of the human race that pass unrecorded by history, and reclaims the significance of an individual life. A reading experience like no other, itself a paean to the power of literature, it is a novel to be savoured. See also: Time Will Darken It by William Maxwell

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