A conversation with Dan Chaon
Schedule
Tue Sep 23 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
1876 South Green Road, South Euclid, OH 44121 | South Euclid, OH
Join us at our South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch for the book launch event of Dan Chaon's "One of Us."Register: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/13944862
Chaon is the author of several books, including "Ill Will," a national bestseller that was named one of the 10 best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. Other works include the short story collection "Stay Awake," a finalist for the Story Prize; the national bestseller "Await Your Reply;" and "Among the Missing," a finalist for the National Book Award. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize Anthologies, and the O. Henry Collection. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction and the Shirley Jackson Award, and he was the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. Chaon lives in Cleveland.
In "One of Us," it’s 1915 and the world is transforming, but for 13-year-old Bolt and Eleanor—twins so close they can literally read each other’s minds—life is falling apart. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie, the only kin they have left. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee.
Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders and father to its many members. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. There’s Minnie, the three-legged lady, and Dr. Chui, who stands over seven feet tall; Thistle Britches, the clown with no nose, and Rosalie, who can foretell the death of anyone she meets.
After a lifetime of having only each other, Eleanor and Bolt are finally part of something bigger. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril as strange as it is terrifying, one which will forever alter the trajectory of their lives. An ode to the misfits and the marginalized, "One of Us" is a riotous and singularly creepy celebration of the strange and the spectacular and of family in its many forms.
📕 Books will be available for purchase, courtesy of Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry.
