The Emperor of Gladness - Signed Paperback Edition

by Vuong, Ocean | Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Published 28/05/2026 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage) in the United Kingdom
Paperback | 416 pages
198 x 129mm | 500g

Signed Paperback Edition - Publishes May 28th

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘Heartbreaking, heartwarming yet unsentimental, and savagely comic' Guardian

‘Some of the most beautiful writing I’ve experienced in my lifetime’ Oprah Winfrey

College dropout Hai doesn’t know how to face the future until a chance meeting with elderly widow Grazina changes his life.

One summer evening in the town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on a bridge, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.

When Hai takes a job at a diner to support himself and Grazina, his fellow workers become the family he didn’t expect to find. United by desperation and circumstance, and existing on the fringes of society, together they bear witness to each other’s survival.

This is an unforgettable story of unexpected friendship and how far people go to find a second chance.

'The first millennial Great American Novel’ ArtReview‘His most vivid, ambitious work yet’ Dazed‘This stunning book moved me so much’ CAITRÍONA BALFE'A poetic, dramatic and vivid story’ COLM TÓIBÍN