The Emperor of Gladness
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:28th May '26
Should be back in stock very soon
This paperback is available in other editions too:
- Hardback£20.00(9781787335400)
- Paperback - Signed Edition£9.99(9781529945850-S)
This summer, discover Ocean Vuong’s bighearted and vibrant story of unexpected friendship, chosen family and embracing second chances.
‘HEARTBREAKING’ Guardian
‘BEAUTIFUL’ Oprah Winfrey
‘DRAMATIC AND VIVID’ Colm Tóibín
One late summer evening in the town of East Gladness, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow.
From this moment, his second chance begins. Over the course of the year, Hai’s story takes new and unexpected turns, as his life-altering bond with Grazina transforms his relationship to the community, his family and, most powerfully of all, to himself.
READERS LOVE THE EMPEROR OF GLADNESS:
’Read it slowly. Let it wreck you. Then read it again’
’I feel like I lost part of my soul to this book’
’I would give it 6 stars if I could’
’Sad and funny, devastating and quietly celebratory’
’A masterwork of compassion and complexity’
‘An ode to the little acts of kindness that help us heal’ Harper’s Bazaar
‘Beautiful writing’ Madonna
‘His most vivid, ambitious work yet’ Dazed
‘Incredible’ Björk
‘The first millennial Great American Novel’ ArtReview
A fine-grained social panorama driven by the developing camaraderie of an ensemble cast bonded in precariousness and pain * Observer *
Depicts the emotions of its protagonists with a sensitivity and lusciousness… contains moments of almost unbearable poignancy * Guardian *
Firmly grounded and perfectly tuned… With its poetic morsels, ambivalent love for the rural northeast, and many-layered immigrant stories, The Emperor of Gladness may well be the first millennial Great American Novel * ArtReview *
Heartbreaking, heartwarming yet unsentimental, and savagely comic all at the same time,The Emperor of Gladness is about just how wobbly things can become * Guardian *
Tender and moving,The Emperor of Gladness is about people on the margins of society and sanity. To my surprise and delight, Vuong’s novel is also wryly, subtly, wittily - and sometimes outrageously - a comedy as well as a tragedy -- Rebecca Solnit
His most vivid, ambitious work yet * Dazed *
Remarkable... A sui generis take on the surprising and cruel ways violence is passed on across generations * Kirkus Starred Review *
[A] heartbreaking epic… Witten in Vuong’s inimitable prose…[it] will doubtless be counted among the great American novels * Bookseller *
A masterwork -- Bryan Washington
This stunning book moved me so much, I fell in love with its characters and grieved their absence in my life when I turned the last page -- Caitríona Balfe
ISBN: 9781529945850
Dimensions: 197mm x 129mm x 28mm
Weight: 290g
416 pages