K: A Novel - by Ted O'Connell (Paperback)

About the Book

"Professor Francis Kauffman has unwittingly landed himself in prison where he's faced with an insurmountable task: execute a fellow inmate. Charged with igniting a political insurrection amongst his students at a university in Beijing, Kauffman is sent to the notorious Kun Chong Prison, where his existence grows stranger by the hour as he struggles with the weight of his imprisonment and his incurable need to write about it in a place where art is forbidden, and the inmates must act as executioners. As cultures clash in his filthy, crowded cell, it soon becomes clear that he's destined for a labor camp...or worse. At turns surreal and brutally honest, this literary thriller spans continents as Kauffman reflects on the turbulent family history that brought him to China, where he leads a solitary, expat life of soulless insurance jobs and all-night writing binges, only to wind up fighting a battle for his life inside the walls of Kun Chong"--

Book Synopsis

Professor Francis Kauffman has unwittingly landed himself in prison where he's faced with an insurmountable task: execute a fellow inmate. Charged with igniting a political insurrection amongst his students at a university in Beijing, Kauffman is sent to the notorious Kun Chong Prison, where his existence grows stranger by the hour as he struggles with the weight of his imprisonment and his incurable need to write about it in a place where art is forbidden, and the inmates must act as executioners. As cultures clash in his filthy, crowded cell, it soon becomes clear that he's destined for a labor camp...or worse. In this surreal and brutally honest literary thriller, Kauffman reflects on the turbulent family history that brought him to China, where he leads a solitary, expat life of soulless insurance jobs and all-night writing binges, only to wind up fighting a battle for his life inside the walls of Kun Chong.

Review Quotes

"K is a relentlessly readable and devastatingly self-assured debut--at turns thrilling and edifying. O'Connell is definitely a new writer to watch." --Jonathan Evison, author of Lawn Boy and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving

"K: A Novel will worm its way into your soul. Much like Professor Francis Kauffman, the novel's memorable protagonist, readers will feel both trapped and liberated. This is a novel for our times about the power of thought, art, truth, and expression and what it means to thrive when there are 'no windows to or from any other world.' A complete winner." --Mark Stevens, author of The Allison Coil Mystery Series

About the Author

Winner of the Tobias Wolff Award in Fiction, Ted O'Connell is a writer and musician whose creative products have been featured in literary magazines, taverns, and music halls throughout the country. He plays mandolin with the Prozac Mountain Boys and guitar with The Scarlet Locomotive, and has twice served as a visiting professor in China. Originally from the Chicago area, Mr. O'Connell lives in Bellingham, Washington with his wife and daughter.