Canon - by Paige Lewis (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"A scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic." --John Green, #1 globally bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God's favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!

Yara can't comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of Bad Guys. Cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship, Yara has never felt weaker--but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning, Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead.

Meanwhile, Adrena, a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power, is determined to become the hero of this story. Desperately seeking the glory of God's approval and the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her beloved mother, Adrena must first persuade Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, that her plan is God's will.

As their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara and Adrena are propelled toward each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny in this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction.

Review Quotes

"I promise that you have never read a book like Canon. It's a scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic. I loved it so much that upon finishing Canon, I immediately began rereading it."
--John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything is Tuberculosis

"An unprecedented page-turner . . . I wish I could spend a thousand more pages with the narrator of Canon, whose keenness, kindness, associative brilliance, storytelling authority, and crow-black humor make every line of this utterly singular novel a surprise and a delight . . . Canon filled me with overwhelming joy, joy that such an extraordinary story exists."
--Karen Russell, bestselling author of The Antidote

"One of my favorite poets and now one of my favorite novelists. The funniest, most immersive book I have read in such a long time, Canon is a book only Paige Lewis could write. With a voice that is whole their own they have crafted something that is truly original, brimming with humor, beauty, heartbreak, magic, and sharp language that will strike you deep down in your soul. Lewis has taken the hero's journey and breathed new life, new wit, and new possibility into the genre and just like the best epics, you will make away bewildered by the prose but maybe have learned something necessary about living. In my house this is an instant classic."
--Danez Smith, author of Bluff

About the Author

Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck (Sarabande Books, 2019) and coeditor of Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Recovery (Sarabande Books, 2023). Lewis received their MFA and PhD in creative writing from Florida State University. Their poems have appeared in Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Gulf Coast, The Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere. They curated the YouTube channel Ours Poetica with authors John Green and Sarah Urist Green. Lewis teaches at the University of Iowa. Canon is their first novel.