A Guide for the Perplexed

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What to expect

A thrilling new novel exploring how memory shapes the soul, by "an astonishing storyteller" (Financial Times)

Software prodigy Josie Ashkenazi has invented a program that records everything its users do. When an Egyptian library invites her to visit as a consultant, her jealous sister Judith persuades her to go. But in Egypt's postrevolutionary chaos, Josie is kidnapped—leaving Judith free to usurp her sister's life, including her husband and daughter, while Josie's talent for preserving memories becomes her only hope of escape.

A century earlier, Solomon Schechter, a Cambridge professor, hunts for a medieval archive hidden in a Cairo synagogue. What he finds will reveal the power and danger of the world Josie's work brings into being—a world where nothing is ever forgotten.

Interweaving stories from Genesis, medieval philosophy, and the digital frontier, A Guide for the Perplexed is a spellbinding tale sure to bring a vast new readership to the acclaimed work of Dara Horn.

Critics Review

“It’s not every day you come across a genuinely page-turning kidnapping
story that is also replete with historical, psychological, and
interpretive insights into Maimonides, envy, and motherhood, not to
mention replicating the narrative structure and central themes of the
biblical story of Joseph. A Guide for the Perplexed is Dara Horn’s most ambitious, audacious, edifying, and entertaining novel yet.”

Elif Batuman, New York Times bestselling author

“Horn builds on the idea of the cabinet of memories
throughout the book, questioning which we want to remember and which we
would rather forget, as well as the relevance of our memories to our
present lives and how they can hold us back…I admired Horn’s intensity and integrity, much as I admired the same qualities in her characters.”

New York Times Book Review

“Another richly textured blend of history, psychology,
religion, and human emotion…Yes, the novel is as intricately constructed as Joseph’s
coat of many colors, and, yes, it echoes the thematic density of the philosophical
work after which it is named, but beneath all that beats the living heart of a
very human drama, one that will have readers both caught up in the suspense and
moved by the tragic dimensions of the unresolved dilemma at the core of the
story.”

Booklist (starred review)

“Horn raises intriguing questions—including some of the eternal variety and others very much of this moment.”

Publishers Weekly

“What do computerized data storage, sibling
rivalry, the Book of Ruth, and Egyptian uncertainty after the Arab Spring have
in common? They’re all part of this latest work about two crucial aspects of
being human: the ability to remember and to love. Horn has already proven
herself by being named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists and
winning two National Jewish Book Awards. A sure bet.”

Library Journal

“A debut novel from the American cofounder
of Granta that, appropriating its title from the work by the great
Talmudic scholar Maimonides, provides an ingenious if metaphorical twist
to the events of 1492.” 

Kirkus Reviews

“Intricate and suspenseful, A Guide for the Perplexed is both learned and heartfelt, an exploration of human memory, its uses and misuses, that spans centuries in a twisty braid full of jaw-dropping revelations and breathtaking reversals. An elegant and brainy page-turner from a master storyteller.”

Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize Winner and New York Times bestselling author

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