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’s 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.

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.

"Killer Queen"
Words and Music by Freddie Mercury
© 1974 (Renewed 2002) QUEEN MUSIC LTD.
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All Rights Reserved International Copyright Secured Used by Permission
Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation