'I was looking for a quiet place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn, and so the next morning I travelled down there from Westchester to scope out the terrain... So begins Paul Auster's The Brooklyn Follies, set against the backdrop of the contested US presidential election of 2000. Nathan and Tom are an uncle and nephew double-act- one in remission from lung cancer, divorced, and estranged from his only daughter, the other hiding away from what was a once- promising academic career. By accident the pair wind up in the same Brooklyn neighbourhood, and then matters change for them further when Lucy - a little girl who refuses to speak - comes into their lives, offering a bridge from the pasts of both men and, perhaps, a shot at redemption... 'A marvellous book, dense and allusive but, at the same time, as inspiring a work of art as any being made in these difficult times. ' John Burnside, Scotsman Auster at the top of his game. This superb novel about human folly turns out to be tremendously wise. 'Alastair Sooke, New Statesman Cover design: Two Associates