The Path of Minor Planets A Novel [Paperback]

In 1965, on a small island in the South Pacific, a group of astronomers gather to witness the passing of a comet, but when a young boy dies during a meteor shower, the lives of the scientists and their loved ones change in subtle yet profound ways. Denise struggles for respect in her professional life, married Eli becomes increasingly attracted to Denise and her quixotic mind, and young Lydia attempts to escape the scientists' long-casting shadows. Andrew Sean Greer's remarkable and sweeping first novel,The Path of Minor Planets, is an exploration of chances taken and lost, of love found and broken, and of time's subtle gravitational pull on the lives of everyday and extraordinary people.Andrew Sean Greeris the bestselling author of five works of fiction, includingThe Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named a Best Book of the Year by both theSan Francisco Chronicleand theChicago Tribune. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O Henry Award for Short Fiction, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer lives in San Francisco.

Perfectly captures the sensation of coming unprepared upon something wonderful...Part of greer's triumph derives from the book's ingenious structure....Unforgettable...Greer has learned Woolf's best lessons well. One of the wisest, most compassionate novels about smart people's emotional lives to come around in years. David Kipen,San Francisco Chronicle Book Review(front page)

Greer pinpoints the tiny hidden madnesses in ordinary people' with unerring accuracy, and, in prose littered with sparks, makes palpable the longing for the celestial. The New Yorker

[Greer's] carefully crafted sentences can ring with ethereal beauty, and his metaphors are vivid and creative....Greer is a writer to watch; he has a literary style that's lS"