Solomon Kugel wishes for nothing more than to be nowhere to be in a place with no past no history no wars no genocides. The rural town of Stockton New York is famous for nothing: No one was born there no one died there nothing of any import has ever happened there which is exactly why Kugel decided to move his family there. To begin again. To start anew. But it isnt quite working out that way. His ailing mother stubbornly holds on to life & wont stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she never actually suffered through. To complicate matters further some lunatic is burning down farmhouses just like the one he bought & he fears his is next. & when one night Kugel discovers history -- a living breathing thought-to-be-dead specimen of history -- hiding in his attic bad very quickly becomes worse. Like nothing youve read before the critically acclaimed Shalom Auslanders debut novel is a hilarious & disquieting examination of the burdens & abuse of history propelled with unstoppable rhythm & filled with existential musings & mordant wit. Scabrous & determinedly iconoclastic.. .one of the funniest & most thought-provoking novels youll read all year Sunday Times A wonderful twisted trangressive heartbreaking true & hugely funny book. It will make very many people angry. It will also make very many people very happy. A. L. Kennedy author of Day Auslander writes like some contemporary comedic Jeremiah thundering warnings of disaster & retribution. What makes him so terrifyingly funny is that he isnt joking. Howard Jacobson author of The Finkler Question winner of the Man Booker Prize Can the darkest events of the twentieth century & of all human history be used to show the folly of hope? & can the result be so funny that you burst out laughing again & again? If you doubt this is possible read Hope: A Tragedy. You wont regret it. John Gray author of Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans & Other Animals