Bainbridge author David Guterson is mining ancient Greek drama for
his next novel, a modern retelling of Sophocles’ “Oedipus
Rex.”
His publisher, Random House, calls the forthcoming “Ed King” a “darkly funny” story of “destiny, desire, and destruction.” The hardcover edition is due out in October.
Its protagonist is an orphan who becomes an Internet tycoon. If it follows the Oedipus Rex story line (spoiler alert!), it won’t end well for him.
Guterson is best known for “Snow Falling on Cedars,” a novel set in a fictionalized, World War II-era Bainbridge Island.
His most recent book, 2008’s “The Other,” drew heavily on Guterson’s own experience growing up in Seattle.
Here’s more about “Ed King” from the Library Journal:
“Milquetoast actuary Walter Cousins sleeps with his underage British au pair, who dumps the resulting babe on Walter’s doorstep. Subsequently adopted, Edward Aaron King grows up to be a world-renowned billionaire Internet tycoon whose life is fated to end in tragedy; this is a modern retelling of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Snow Falling on Cedars author Guterson is getting really ambitious; with a 75,000-copy first printing, a three-city tour to Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle, and a reading group guide.”
