4 3 2 1

Auster's Booker Prize-shortlisted epic from the author of contemporary classic The New York Trilogy: 'a literary voice for the ages' (Guardian)

'A masterpiece.' Daily Mail





'Absorbing and immersive . . . the author's greatest novel.' FT





SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017



On March 3rd, 1947, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson's life will take four simultaneous but entirely different paths. Family fortunes diverge. Loves and friendships and passions contrast. Each version of Ferguson's story rushes across the fractured terrain of mid-twentieth century America, in this sweeping story of birthright and possibility, of love and the fullness of life itself.



'Remarkable . . . A novel that contains multitudes.' New York Times



'A vast portrait of the turbulent mid-20th century . . . wonderfully, vividly conveyed.' New Statesman



Paul Auster (1947-2024) was the bestselling author of The New York Trilogy, Sunset Park, The Book of Illusions, Moon Palace and 4 3 2 1, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Among his many international honours were the Prix Medicis Étranger, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Carlos Fuentes Prize, given in recognition of his body of work. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He lived in Brooklyn, New York.