Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)

Salvation City

By Sigrid Nunez
On Tour

By Sigrid Nunez
On Tour

By Sigrid Nunez
On Tour

By Sigrid Nunez
On Tour

Best Seller
Paperback $16.00

Sep 06, 2011 | ISBN 9781594485374

Ebook $12.99

Sep 16, 2010 | ISBN 9781101443392

All Formats
+
    Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez
    Paperback $16.00
    Sep 06, 2011 | ISBN 9781594485374

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (1) +

    Paperback
    –

    • Paperback $16.00

      Sep 06, 2011 | ISBN 9781594485374

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Ebook
    +

    • Ebook

      Sep 16, 2010 | ISBN 9781101443392

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Ebook:

    About Salvation City

    “A NOVEL FOR LIFE AFTER THE PANDEMIC…Scratches a particular imaginative itch that we are all experiencing at the precipice of a new era.” — The New Yorker 

    From the National Book Award-winning author of The Friend comes a moving and eerily relevant novel that imagines the aftermath of a pandemic virus as seen through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy uncertain of his destiny.

    His family’s sole survivor after a flu pandemic has killed large numbers of people worldwide, Cole Vining is lucky to have found refuge with the evangelical Pastor Wyatt and his wife in a small town in southern Indiana. As the world outside has grown increasingly anarchic, Salvation City has been spared much of the devastation, and its residents have renewed their preparations for the Rapture.

    Grateful for the shelter and love of his foster family (and relieved to have been saved from the horrid, overrun orphanages that have sprung up around the country), Cole begins to form relationships within the larger community. But despite his affection for this place, he struggles with memories of the very different world in which he was reared. Is there room to love both Wyatt and his parents? Are they still his parents if they are no longer there? As others around him grow increasingly fixated on the hope of salvation and the new life to come through the imminent Rapture, Cole begins to conceive of a different future for himself, one in which his own dreams of heroism seem within reach.

    Written in Sigrid Nunez’s deceptively simple style, Salvation City is a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness, weaving the deeply affecting story of a young boy’s transformation with a profound meditation on the meaning of belief and heroism.

    About Salvation City

    “A NOVEL FOR LIFE AFTER THE PANDEMIC…Scratches a particular imaginative itch that we are all experiencing at the precipice of a new era.” — The New Yorker 

    From the National Book Award-winning author of The Friend comes a moving and eerily relevant novel that imagines the aftermath of a pandemic virus as seen through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy uncertain of his destiny.

    His family’s sole survivor after a flu pandemic has killed large numbers of people worldwide, Cole Vining is lucky to have found refuge with the evangelical Pastor Wyatt and his wife in a small town in southern Indiana. As the world outside has grown increasingly anarchic, Salvation City has been spared much of the devastation, and its residents have renewed their preparations for the Rapture.

    Grateful for the shelter and love of his foster family (and relieved to have been saved from the horrid, overrun orphanages that have sprung up around the country), Cole begins to form relationships within the larger community. But despite his affection for this place, he struggles with memories of the very different world in which he was reared. Is there room to love both Wyatt and his parents? Are they still his parents if they are no longer there? As others around him grow increasingly fixated on the hope of salvation and the new life to come through the imminent Rapture, Cole begins to conceive of a different future for himself, one in which his own dreams of heroism seem within reach.

    Written in Sigrid Nunez’s deceptively simple style, Salvation City is a story of love, betrayal, and forgiveness, weaving the deeply affecting story of a young boy’s transformation with a profound meditation on the meaning of belief and heroism.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also by Sigrid Nunez

    The Vulnerables
    What Are You Going Through
    The Friend (National Book Award Winner)
    Sempre Susan
    See all books by Sigrid Nunez

    Also by Sigrid Nunez

    The Vulnerables
    What Are You Going Through
    The Friend (National Book Award Winner)
    Sempre Susan
    See all books by Sigrid Nunez

    About Sigrid Nunez

    Sigrid Nunez is the author of the novels A Feather on the Breath of God, The Last of Her Kind, The Friend, and What Are You Going Through, among others. She is also the author of Sempre Susan: A Memoir… More about Sigrid Nunez

    About Sigrid Nunez

    Sigrid Nunez is the author of the novels A Feather on the Breath of God, The Last of Her Kind, The Friend, and What Are You Going Through, among others. She is also the author of Sempre Susan: A Memoir… More about Sigrid Nunez

    Product Details

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $16.00
    Published by Riverhead Books
    Sep 06, 2011 | 288 Pages | 5-1/8 x 8 | ISBN 9781594485374

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Riverhead Books
    Sep 16, 2010 | 288 Pages | ISBN 9781101443392
    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    “Sigrid Nunez’s Salvation City is a novel from 2010 that grapples with the strange and intangible fallout of a global pandemic, imagining the kind of psychological impact that such an event can have…One of the biggest questions that the coronavirus pandemic has produced is how a period of prolonged isolation, compounded by an ambient anxiety of getting sick and a physical fear of all humans, will impact the development of children and adolescents. … Nunez is especially skilled at imagining just how strange it would be to form any kind of selfhood under these circumstances.” – The New Yorker

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
    Get the latest updates about Sigrid Nunez
    And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
    And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
    By clicking “SIGN UP”, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime.
    Dismiss
    Thanks!
    Something awesome is on its way.
    Back to Top

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

     An online magazine for today’s home cook

    An online magazine for today’s home cook