Rreading Circle 83: ‚Trust ‚ by Hernan Diaz

Trust by Hernan Diaz

This month‘s novel is Trust by Hernan Diaz, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 and was a Sunday Times Top Ten Best-Seller. Hernan Diaz is an Argentinian/American writer. His first novel In The Distance, was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has won numerous awards and his work has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Wikipedia tells us that, Aside from his writing, Hernan Diaz is the associate director of the Hispanic Institute for Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University, and serves as the managing editor of the Spanish-language journal Revista Hispánica Moderna. Trust is his second novel.

The publisher’s description of the novel says:
A Wall Street tycoon and his young wife rise to the top of New York society in an age of excess and speculation. But now a novelist is threatening to reveal the secrets behind their marriage, and this wealthy man’s story – of greed, love and betrayal – is about to slip from his grasp. Composed of four competing versions of this deliciously deceptive tale, ‘Trust’ brings us on a quest for truth while confronting the lies that often lie buried in the human heart.

Book recommendations from Reading Circle members

– Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan (2024): An irresistible, unputdownable, state of the nation novel – the story of one man’s epic fall from grace.

– Bourneville by Jonathan Coe (2022): A clever, but also tender and lyrical novel about Britain and Britishness and what we have become. (Google Books)

– There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (2024): Sweeping across centuries, this novel depicts a trio of characters living in the shadow of one of the greatest epic poems of all time.

– Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (2024): Set in Dublin and rural Ireland, the novel follows two brothers in the aftermath of their father’s death, and deals with the inner lives of people and the state of their complicated relationships.

– It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (1935): A dystopian political novel set in a fictionalised version of the USA, following the rise of a politician to become the country’s first outright dictator, and the newspaper editor who becomes his most ardent critic.

– Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013): A nonfiction book about the role of Indigenous knowledge as an alternative or complementary approach to Western mainstream scientific methodologies.

– Childhood, Youth, Dependency by Tove Defletsen (Original written in Danish but now available in English): A fictional autobiography charting one woman’s journey from a troubled childhood in working-class Copenhagen

Music Played

– An American in Paris by George Gerschwin, first recording from 1929 with the Victor Orchestra with George Gerschwin himself on the piano.

– Spring from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, with Itztak Perlman on the violin.

Do join us again in May, when we will be introducing Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1847. This novel is a timeless literary masterpiece blending romance, Gothic mystery and a deeply personal journey of self-discovery.