The Great Perhaps

April 20, 2009

The Great Perhapsgreatperhapscover-low-res
A Novel
By Joe Meno

 W.W. Norton & Company
On sale May 2009
ISBN 978-0-393-06796-5
$24.95 Hardcover
Fiction / Contemporary America /
Set in Chicago

A breakout new novel from the critically acclaimed novelist and playwright Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned.

“I think THE GREAT PERHAPS is the wisest, most humane and transcendent novel on the contemporary family since The Corrections… A marvelous book.”
–Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting and Crime

 “THE GREAT PERHAPS is a darkly funny, lyrical, and shrewdly observant chronicle of a family on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Joe Meno has the rare ability to evoke mid-life melancholy and teenage angst with equal authority.”
-Tom Perrotta, author of Election and The Abstinence Teacher

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MBA Bookseller Information

For more information about this book, please contact your W.W. Norton / Abraham Associates sales rep.  Order from Abraham Associates, W.W. Norton, or your preferred wholesaler.

If you would like to inquire about publicity and events with author Joe Meno, please contact Erin Lovett, Assistant Director of Publicity, W.W. Norton, elovett@wwnorton.com, 212-790-4388..

MBA Booksellers: earn up to $100 in rebates for promoting this book!  See the marketing information and rebate form below.

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About the Book

The sky is falling for the Caspers of Chicago, a family of cowards: for Jonathan, a paleontologist, searching in vain for a prehistoric giant squid; for his wife, Madeline, an animal behaviorist with a failing experiment; for their daughter, Amelia, a disappointed teenage revolutionary; for her younger sister, Thisbe, on a frustrated search for God; and for grandfather Henry, who wants to disappear, limiting himself to thirteen words a day, then twelve, then eleven, until he will speak no more.

Each fears uncertainty and the possibilities that accompany it. When Jonathan and Madeline suddenly decide to separate, this nuclear family is split, each member forced to confront his or her own cowardice, finally coming to appreciate the cloudiness of the modern age. With wit and humor, THE GREAT PERHAPS presents a revealing look at anxiety, ambiguity, and the need for complicated answers to complex questions.

About the Authorjoemeno-creditjoewigdhal

Joe Meno is a fiction writer and playwright who lives in Chicago. A winner of the Nelson Algren Literary Award and the Society of Midland Author’s Fiction Prize, he is the author of four novels, The Boy Detective Fails (Akashic 2006,) Hairstyles of the Damned (Akashic 2004,) Tender as Hellfire (St. Martin’s 1999), and How the Hula Girl Sings (HarperCollins 2001.) His short story collections include Demons in the Spring (2008), a finalist for the 2009 Story Prize, and Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir (TriQuarterly 2005.) His online serial, The Secret Hand, runs through Playboy magazine at playboy.com. His short fiction has been published in the likes of McSweeney’s, Witness, TriQuarterly, Mid-American Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Washington Square, Other Voices, Gulf Coast, and broadcast on NPR.
He is a contributing editor to Punk Planet magazine and is a professor of creative writing at Columbia College Chicago. Two short films based on Joe Meno’s work have been recently produced: Our Neck of the Woods, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the forthcoming Tender as Hellfire.

Author Web site: www.joemeno.com

Midwest Connections Marketing Plans

  • $100 in REBATES from MBA for display photos, ads, features in your newsletters, e-newsletters, and on your store website, and using this book with your book clubs and reading groups – print out the REBATE FORM above and follow instructions.
  • Contact the publisher to inquire about events and/or phoners with the women featured in the book and/or with the author.
  • Banners and Midwest Connections page for the book on the MBA website.
  • Flyer/sign PDF file and other materials provided by the publisher.
  • Reading copies of THE GREAT PERHAPS available from W.W. Norton and MBA – contact the MBA office if you need a book.
  • Print ad you can run in your local paper – earn a rebate from MBA for your ad!
  • Midwest Connections stickers, shelf-talkers, signs, bookmarks for in-store

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