Vigil: A Novel
Jan 2026 · Sold by Random House
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A scorching portrait of modern America. And yet it also brings a sense of sense of hope, not only because [it] reminds us how powerful a great novel can be, but because of the sense . . . that a universal justice will prevail.”—R. J. Palacio for Time, “25 Books That Capture This American Moment”
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER
A “spectacular” (Los Angeles Times) novel from the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he is ferried from this world into the next
“Vibrant, fiendishly clever . . . Vigil is pure Saunders: the death of empathy, he insists, is greatly exaggerated.”—The Boston Globe
Not for the first time, Jill “Doll” Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls, right down to her favorite black pumps. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion.
She has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn’t like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn’t it?
Vigil transports us, careening, through the wild final evening of a complicated man. Visitors begin to arrive (worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead), clamoring for a reckoning. Birds swarm the dying man’s room; a black calf grazes on the love seat; a man from a distant, drought-ravaged village materializes; two oil-business cronies from decades past show up with chilling plans for Boone’s postdeath future.
With the wisdom, playfulness, and explosive imagination we’ve come to expect, George Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time—the menace of corporate greed, the toll of capitalism, the environmental perils of progress—and, in the process, spins a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the thorny question of absolution.
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE SUMMER
A “spectacular” (Los Angeles Times) novel from the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, taking place at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he is ferried from this world into the next
“Vibrant, fiendishly clever . . . Vigil is pure Saunders: the death of empathy, he insists, is greatly exaggerated.”—The Boston Globe
Not for the first time, Jill “Doll” Blaine finds herself hurtling toward earth, reconstituting as she falls, right down to her favorite black pumps. She plummets towards her newest charge, yet another soul she must usher into the afterlife, and lands headfirst in the circular drive of his ornate mansion.
She has performed this sacred duty 343 times since her own death. Her charges, as a rule, have been greatly comforted in their final moments. But this charge, she soon discovers, isn’t like the others. The powerful K. J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold, epic life, and the world is better for it. Isn’t it?
Vigil transports us, careening, through the wild final evening of a complicated man. Visitors begin to arrive (worldly and otherworldly, alive and dead), clamoring for a reckoning. Birds swarm the dying man’s room; a black calf grazes on the love seat; a man from a distant, drought-ravaged village materializes; two oil-business cronies from decades past show up with chilling plans for Boone’s postdeath future.
With the wisdom, playfulness, and explosive imagination we’ve come to expect, George Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time—the menace of corporate greed, the toll of capitalism, the environmental perils of progress—and, in the process, spins a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the thorny question of absolution.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A scorching portrait of modern America. And yet it also brings a sense of sense of hope, not only because [it] reminds us how powerful a great novel can be, but because of the sense . . . that a universal justice will prevail.”—R. J. Palacio for Time, “25 Books Tha...
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Ratings and reviews
14 reviews
Jack Marchant
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May 6, 2026
As I read (and listened) this book I wasn't sure if I was enjoying it. But, the deeper into I got the more I enjoyed it. At times it was like an acid trip, other times it was sad and emotional and interesting. George Saunders is a wonderful writer. I read (and listened) and completed it in less than 24 hours and I honestly think it was better because I didn't take many breaks...I also really enjoyed the audio version. The various voices in the audiobook gave it extra color and personality that I would have missed by just reading it. I look forward to reading more of his work.
Monkfish2 Monkfish2
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March 22, 2026
Jill “Doll” Blaine drops out of the afterlife and lands head-first in a Texas driveway, which feels about right for reading Saunders: disorienting, immediate, faintly humiliating. She’s a dead 22-year-old tasked with comforting a dying oil baron, a man built from ambition, intellect, and carefully curated self-delusion. What should be routine turns into a crowded night of the dead: guilty, wounded, and unhelpfully chatty. The real anchor is Jill, whose quiet, ordinary grief cuts through the spectacle. Saunders renders her life with painful precision while the ghosts perform upstairs. The baron is impressively drawn, monstrous yet recognizable, his mind a furnace for inconvenient truths. The book wobbles when satire and sincerity collide, and its moral stance argues with itself. The ending reaches for redemption, maybe earns it, maybe doesn’t. Read it for Jill. The rest is noise, sometimes brilliant, sometimes just loud.
Hal Kid Jr.
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March 3, 2026
A clever, imaginative, and humorous look at a single man's life as he approaches death. With both real people and spirits of former people drifting in and out of millionaire K. J. Boone's room. Always confident and sure of himself, will he be able to admit to his mistakes and make amends before he dies?
About the author
George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize, and five collections of stories, including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama as one of his ten favorite books of 2022). Three of Saunders’s books—Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo—were chosen for The New York Times’s list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world’s 100 Most Influential People by Time. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.
George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize, and five collections of stories, including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former Presi...
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