The Topeka School

Ben Lerner

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR

'I think the future of the novel is here' Sally Rooney
'A hugely moving American masterpiece' Max Porter

Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of '97, the son of two psychologists. He is a renowned debater and orator, an aspiring poet, and - although it requires a lot of posturing and weight lifting - one of the cool kids, but he's also one of the seniors who brings a loner, Darren Eberheart, into the social scene, with disastrous effects.

The Topeka School is a riveting story about the challenges of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a startling prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the tyranny of trolls and the new right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men.

'His most discerning, ambitious, innovative and timely novel to date... Deeply inspired' Maggie Nelson