The Royal Family

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Action Suspense, Romance, Erotica
Cover of the book The Royal Family by William T. Vollmann, Penguin Publishing Group
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Author: William T. Vollmann ISBN: 9781101221563
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group Publication: August 1, 2001
Imprint: Penguin Books Language: English
Author: William T. Vollmann
ISBN: 9781101221563
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication: August 1, 2001
Imprint: Penguin Books
Language: English

A rich, haunting novel of street life in San Francisco’s Mission District, from the National Book Award-winning author of Europe Central

In The Royal Family, William T. Vollmann uses the story of two brothers to construct a haunting series of parallels between the lives of the dispossessed and the anxious middle class. Henry Tyler is a failing private detective in San Francisco. When the love of his life, Irene--who happens to be married to his brother John, an ambitious contract lawyer--commits suicide, he clings despairingly to her ghost. Struggling to turn his grief into something precious, Henry enters into a new life of nightmare beauty and degradation as he attempts to track down the legendary Queen of the Prostitutes.

Crafted out of language by turns eloquent, humorous, sensual, and obscene, and full of vividly rendered depictions of low-life bars, office politics, and hobo camps, here are Vollmann's familiar but ever surprising characters--the seekers, the vigilantes, the hypocrites, the sex workers. He has woven their stories into a vivid and unforgettable novel about the eerie paradoxes of possession and loss.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A rich, haunting novel of street life in San Francisco’s Mission District, from the National Book Award-winning author of Europe Central

In The Royal Family, William T. Vollmann uses the story of two brothers to construct a haunting series of parallels between the lives of the dispossessed and the anxious middle class. Henry Tyler is a failing private detective in San Francisco. When the love of his life, Irene--who happens to be married to his brother John, an ambitious contract lawyer--commits suicide, he clings despairingly to her ghost. Struggling to turn his grief into something precious, Henry enters into a new life of nightmare beauty and degradation as he attempts to track down the legendary Queen of the Prostitutes.

Crafted out of language by turns eloquent, humorous, sensual, and obscene, and full of vividly rendered depictions of low-life bars, office politics, and hobo camps, here are Vollmann's familiar but ever surprising characters--the seekers, the vigilantes, the hypocrites, the sex workers. He has woven their stories into a vivid and unforgettable novel about the eerie paradoxes of possession and loss.

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