Amherst Reads March 2013 - Schroder by Amity Gaige

Schroder: A Novel
by Amity Gaige, Visiting Writer

"The reader will realize that he or she has been given every detail necessary to see what was coming, yet didn't, which is plot-making of the highest order."-- Jonathan Dee, The New York Times

• Learn more about the author
• Listen to or read the transcript of the interview with Amity Gaige and Professor of English, Judy Frank
• Read an excerpt
• Read the NYT review
• Join the discussion

Attending summer camp as a boy, Erik Schroder--a first generation East German immigrant--adopts the name of Eric Kennedy, a decision that will set him on an improbable and transformative journey. Schroder relates the story of how years later, Erik finds himself on an urgent escape to Lake Champlain, Vermont with his daughter, hiding from authorities amidst a heated custody battle with estranged wife, Laura, who is unaware of his previous identity. From a correctional facility, Erik surveys the course of his life: his love for Laura, his childhood, his experience as a father.

Amity Gaige's deftly imagined novel offers a profound meditation on history and fatherhood, and the many identities we take on in our lives--those we are born with and those we construct for ourselves.