Patrick deWitt

Patrick deWitt was born on Vancouver Island in 1975. He is the author of three critically acclaimed novels: Undermajordomo Minor, Ablutions, and The Sisters Brothers, which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Stephen Leacock Medal. The Sisters Brothers was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His most recent book, French Exit has been shortlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

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Reviews:

“Such sharply observed moments give deWitt’s well-written novel more depth than the usual comedy of manners—a depth reinforced by the exit that closes the tale, sharp object and all” – In Kirkus Reviews
“DeWitt’s novel is full of vibrant characters taking good-natured jabs at cultural tropes; readers will be delighted – In Publishers Weekly

Interviews:

“I seem to focus on people who aren’t particularly well suited to their positions. I suppose this comes from my own hapless experiences in the workforce” – In CBC Books
“Bound by the last of her dead husband’s money, Francis sprints to spend it all. Her devoted son, Malcolm, a man happily living in permanent adolescence” – At Goodreads

French Exit

A brilliant and darkly comic novel, French Exit presents the tale of a wealthy widow, her adult son, and their aging cat who flee New York in the wake of scandal and financial disintegration. One ocean voyage later, the curious trio land in their beloved Paris, the City of Light serving as a backdrop not for love or romance but self-destruction and economic ruin — all to riotous effect.

Brimming with pathos and wit, French Exit is a one-of-a-kind “tragedy of manners,” a riotous send-up of high society, as well as a moving mother/son caper.