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Vigil

From the Booker Prize-winning author of ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’

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Vigil

By: George Saunders
Narrated by: Full Cast, George Saunders, Judy Greer, Stephen Root
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Bloomsbury presents Vigil by George Saunders, read by Judy Greer with Stephen Root and a full cast.

The latest book from the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo – a playful, wise, electric novel 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

'He will be read long after these times have passed' Zadie Smith

What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward. . .

Not for the first time – in fact, for the 343rd time – Jill ‘Doll’ Blaine finds herself crashing down to earth, head-first, rear-up, to accompany her latest charge into the afterlife. She soon realises however that this man is not quite like the others.

For powerful oil tycoon K.J. Boone will not be consoled, because he has nothing to regret. He lived a big, bold life, and the world is better for it… isn’t it?

As death approaches, a cast of worldly and otherworldly visitors arrive. Crowds of people and animals – alive and dead – materialise, birds swarm the dying man’s room, and associates from decades past show up, all clamouring for a reckoning.

In this electric novel brimming with explosive imagination, George Saunders confronts the biggest issues of our time with his trademark humour and warmth, spinning a tale that encompasses life and death, good and evil, and the inevitable question: who else could we be but exactly who we are?

Cast:
Judy Greer as Jill ‘Doll’ Blaine
Stephen Root as K.J. Boone
MacLeod Andrews as the Frenchman
Kimberly Farr as K.J.'s Mother
Mark Bramhall as K.J.'s Father
Karissa Vacker as Julia
Kirby Heyborne as the College Kid
Danny Campbell as the Cheyenne Country Club Golfer
Barrett Leddy as Mel G
Eric Jason Martin as Mel R
Cassandra Campbell as Miss Eva
Kimberly M. Wetherell as Clyda
Aaron Goodson as William
Fred Berman as Paul Bowman
Marni Penning as the Weaver-Lady
Sunil Malhotra as Mr Bhuti
Ann Marie Lee as Viv
Rebecca Lowman as Carol-Ann
Maggi-Meg Reed as Grandma Gust
Matt Godfrey as Joe, the weaver-lady's husband
Vas Eli as the Russian Nurse
and George Saunders as Dell©2026 George Saunders (P)2026 Penguin Random House LLC Editors Select Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Literary Fiction
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Editorial Review

All bills come due
You give me a story about the ethereal unknown of death and its afterparties, tell me it’s written by George Saunders, and you have my full attention. Comparing Vigil to Lincoln in the Bardo, his first novel, at first seems easy and sure. But Vigil is entirely new and exists as its own bit of remarkability. In the context of Saunders’s career, this stands clearly in its own lane as the work of an author who has again figured out the right words to describe this cosmic pudding we live in, with humour for us and grace for his characters who need it the most. —Aaron S., Audible Editor

Critic Reviews

A wild ride through recent history, otherworldly reunions and good and evil – suitably big themes for one of America’s most distinguished and original writers
A tender morality tale … intrigue thrums everywhere
The first must-read book of the year
Faulkner meets Citizen Kane... such is Saunders’ skill and empathetic imagination that the questions raised by his concocted other world... generally prove more mysterious than mystifying
Staggering... Saunders has outdone himself with this endlessly irreverent work of art
Vigil… moves into even more anarchic and funny territory than that 2017 Booker-winning masterpiece with this new novel’s unhinged spirits and pitiful ghosts… a meditation on the manipulative nature of modern language… resonates deeply in our fractious, selfish age
A magnificent expansion of consciousness... Saunders has crafted a novel that feels deeply resonant, especially in these fractious times
Exquisitely strange and beautiful, devastating, and so, so funny. Nobody but George Saunders writes like this (Meg Mason)
With acuity and explosive imagination, Saunders takes on the gravest issues of our time: the menace of corporate greed
An imaginative, highly entertaining homage to A Christmas Carol
George Saunders, has produced his own riff on the story of George Bailey. Like Capra’s film, Vigil is a superbly wrought bit of sentimental fantasy that shades gradually into something darker and more troubling
The prose zips with the author’s trademark wisecracks and quick-fire repartee … at a time when doomsayers predict the demise of the novel – destined, supposedly, to be seen off by glitzier distractions and dwindling attention spans – Mr Saunders has a recipe for fiction’s survival, as well as a rationale for reading it. Finding new ways to tell stories with words on a page, his work nudges forward the boundaries of the form. He powers his empathy machine with restless invention
He writes in a way that is so engaging and beautiful ... so immersive and incredible but also brutal
He boils down this vast global problem to an emotion ... he has an enormous empathy that extends to all sorts of people
Anyone familiar with Saunders’s work – either Lincoln or his several books of tragicomic short stories that preceded it – will know to expect something unusual, and he doesn’t disappoint
Formidable. The sentences snap and pivot; jokes arrive, then suddenly float into a colder register. He can turn celestial paperwork into something like tragedy ... a theatrical moral fable
Elegant and witty ... Vigil is a finely crafted novel that explores comfort, repentance, and the path to redemption, which must be sought again and again
All stars
Most relevant
A gorgeous weird trip through the world of the dead, exploring the possibility of redemption, or not, and the sadness of transience. Of us, of the world, and the whole damn thing. The narration was perfect, with layer upon layer of nuance. Funny, too, and bitter sweet. I loved it.

Kinda heartbreaking

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Interesting storyline. I enjoyed this book although I'm not sure it ever really reached its purpose of showing how a man could be led to admitting the truth, away from his truth. So it tended to jump around somewhat. I absolutely loved the voices in this book though. Perfectly chosen and a pleasure to listen to. Very clever I thought

Delightful narration

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Bought because I loved A Swim In A Pond In The Rain and wanted to try his fiction. But I am not a fan of this preachy American magico-mysticism. Beautifully performed though.

Not my thing

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Great story. George Saunders’ new book traverses Life Death and the weight of our choices in this rollicking deathbed adventure. Judy Grier and Stephen Root are brilliant.

VIGIL

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