The Fourth Hand - by John Irving (Paperback)

About the Book

By turns brilliantly comic and emotionally moving, this "New York Times" #1 bestseller is hailed as "a riveting entertainment and certainly one of the funniest novels of the year" ("Chicago Sun-Times").

Book Synopsis

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

While reporting a story from India, New York journalist Patrick Wallingford inadvertently becomes his own headline when his left hand is eaten by a lion. In Boston, a renowned surgeon eagerly awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant. But what if the donor's widow demands visitation rights with the hand? In answering this unexpected question, John Irving has written a novel that is by turns brilliantly comic and emotionally moving, offering a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.

Praise for The Fourth Hand

"A rich and deeply moving tale . . . Vintage Irving: a story of two very disparate people, and the strange and unexpected ways we grow . . . Irving's novels are perceptive and precise reflections of the world around us."--The Washington Post Book World

"A blend of sexual farce, journalistic satire, and tender love story . . . From what at first seems bizarre, Irving builds the best kind of love story: an improbable one. Wallingford gets more than a transplanted hand; he begins to find his soul."--USA Today

"A riveting entertainment and certainly one of the funniest novels of the year. The authoritative control of Irving's storytelling has never been more impressive. . . . The delighted reader is powerless to look away."--Chicago Sun-Times

"[A] thoroughly satisfying literary experience . . . Irving's most compassionate and redemptive [novel] to date . . . [His] mastery of characterization is unequaled in American novelists of the day."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"A beautiful story about the redemptive power of love."--The Denver Post

Review Quotes

"A RICH AND DEEPLY MOVING TALE . . . Vintage Irving: a story of two very disparate people, and the strange and unexpected ways we grow . . . Irving's novels are perceptive and precise reflections of the world around us."
-The Washington Post Book World

"A BLEND OF SEXUAL FARCE, JOURNALISTIC SATIRE, AND TENDER LOVE STORY . . . From what at first seems bizarre, Irving builds the best kind of love story: an improbable one. Wallingford gets more than a transplanted hand; he begins to find his soul."
-USA Today

"A RIVETING ENTERTAINMENT AND CERTAINLY ONE OF THE FUNNIEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR. The authoritative control of Irving's storytelling has never been more impressive. . . . The delighted reader is powerless to look away."
-Chicago Sun-Times

"[A] THOROUGHLY SATISFYING LITERARY EXPERIENCE . . . Irving's most compassionate and redemptive [novel] to date . . . [His] mastery of characterization is unequaled in American novelists of the day."
-St. Louis Post Dispatch

"A BEAUTIFUL STORY ABOUT THE REDEMPTIVE POWER OF LOVE."
-The Denver Post

About the Author

JOHN IRVING was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven. Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times, winning in 1980 for The World According to Garp. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for In One Person. An international writer, his books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. A Prayer for Owen Meany is his best-selling novel, in every language. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, John Irving lives in Toronto.