Dodge City
Format:Hardback
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers
Published:29th Sep '26
Should be back in stock very soon
The unforgettable tragicomic family novel from the Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Sisters Brothers
LONGLISTED FOR THE GILLER PRIZE 2026
‘Playful, charming and warm’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘I adored every page’ MAX PORTER
‘A rollicking, wise, superb novel’ INDEPENDENT
From the Booker-shortlisted author of The Sisters Brothers comes a thrilling novel about a young man on an amphetamine-fuelled cross-country road trip fleeing the Vietnam draft.
1967, California. Lee Clarke is a strait-laced twenty-three-year-old, happily in love and ambling along at college until an ill-advised fistfight leads to his expulsion. Soon, he receives his draft notice to serve in the Vietnam War, which forces Lee to make the first political decision of his life: he will leave the country and his girlfriend and head for the Canadian border.
He signs up at a drive-away car delivery service, chancing into a new Jaguar bound for the East Coast. Carrying only a single suitcase and a bag of amphetamines, Lee knows he can’t go without saying his goodbyes.
In four different towns strung out along the US, Lee visits each member of his family: his father, an alcoholic World War Two veteran; his mother, engaged in a buoyantly manic performance with her shut-in sibling; his heartbroken, misanthropic brother Harry; and finally his twin sister, Grace, a brash, young psychiatric nurse-in-training mired in romantic drama. As Lee makes his stimulated progress across the country, his past keeps rising to meet him. He can’t help but wonder, what will his decision to leave mean for his future?
A beautiful, sweeping and raucous portrait of a family in disarray and a country in flux, Dodge City confirms deWitt as one of our most brilliant satirists and a novelist of staggering heart.
A TIMES MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026
‘Funny, warm-hearted and beautifully written’ THE TIMES
‘He is a master of arch dialogue’ GUARDIAN
‘A book for anyone who has ever thought their problems could be solved by running away’ NICOLE FLATTERY, author of Nothing Special
‘Fizzing with deadpan dialogue and wry observation … every line is a joy’ DAILY MAIL
‘Electric, funny, and brilliantly written’ JOHN PATRICK McHUGH, author of Fun and Games
‘A witty, heartfelt ride. Dodge City is a supreme delight’ JAMI ATTENBERG,...
‘Playful, charming and warm … Dodge City is powered by the highfalutin energy of the characters’ dialogue … his characters talk as if they’ve escaped from the set of The Big Lebowski’ Sunday Times
‘He is a master of arch dialogue’ Guardian
‘Funny, warm-hearted and beautifully written; we can imagine the Coen brothers immediately turning it into a movie’ The Times
‘A brisk, melancholic road trip novel … Lee’s charm as a character is his Bartleby-like refusal to countenance objections to his objection’ New York Times
‘[A] decadent and daring road novel’ Marie Claire
‘Absolute brilliance ... an episodic reunion fizzing with deadpan dialogue and wry observation … every line is a joy’ Daily Mail
‘A rollicking, wise, superb novel – and one that offers a warning about drinking the “mythic American tonic”’ Independent
‘Sure-handed and intelligent … deWitt keeps the laughs coming’ TLS
‘Perfectly captures the absurdity of family dynamics and blends it with just the right amount of dry humour’ Washington Independent Review of Books
‘Fascinating … deWitt’s brilliant comic touch and gift for bringing characters to life through sharp and distinctive dialogue are honestly unmatched’ Chicago Tribune
‘I adored every page of this wise, funny, charming novel’ Max Porter, author of Shy
‘A book for anyone who has ever thought their problems could be solved by running away. Tender, sweet, funny and I think one of deWitt's best’ Nicole Flattery, author of Nothing Special
‘Electric, funny, and brilliantly written’ John Patrick McHugh, author of Fun and Games
‘Poignant and comic … conversations are the heart of deWitt’s genius’ Ron Charles, via Substack
‘I was hooked from the first page … Witty, moving, frustrating, rousing, strange, I loved it’ Lou Stoppard, author of Exteriors
‘A witty, heartfelt ride. Dodge City is a supreme delight’ Jami Attenberg, author of All This Could Be Yours
‘A perfect novel … on the knife’s edge of hilarity and tenderness’ Jonathan Lethem, author of Brooklyn Crime Novel
ISBN: 9780008781347
Dimensions: 222mm x 141mm x 28mm
Weight: 360g
256 pages