Life of Black Hawk, or Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak
A Thousand Acres

The World According to Garp

Powerful and political, with unforgettable characters and timeless themes, The World According to Garp is John Irving’s breakout novel. The precursor of Irving’s later protest novels, it is the story of Jenny, an unmarried nurse who becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing—and of her son, Garp, less beloved but no less polarizing.

From the tragicomic tone of its first sentence to its mordantly funny last line—“we are all terminal cases”—The World According to Garp maintains a breakneck pace. The subject of sexual hatred and violence—of intolerance of sexual minorities, and sexual differences—runs through the book, as relevant now as ever. Available in more than forty countries—with more than ten million copies in print—Garp is a comedy with forebodings of doom.

More Adult, Non-Juvenile Books

  • On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster.

  • When it comes to business, nice guys don’t finish last. In fact, the opposite is true. This award-winning book shows leaders how to leverage and exhibit kindness at work for the good of their teams and the future success of their organizations.

  • "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies" offers a vital perspective on the economic and political tensions leading up to the American Revolution. Authored by John Dickinson, these influential letters, originally published as political pamphlets, eloquently argue against British policies impacting colonial finance.