Visible Empire - by Hannah Pittard (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

On a humid summer day, the phones begin to ring: disaster has struck. Chateau de Sully, a Boeing 707 chartered to ferry home more than one hundred of Atlanta's most prominent citizens from a European jaunt, crashed in Paris shortly after takeoff. Overnight, the city of Atlanta changes. Left behind are children, spouses, lovers, and friends faced with renegotiating their lives--the hedonism of the sixties and the urgency of the civil rights movement at the city's doorstep.
With Visible Empire, Hannah Pittard "brings her kaleidoscopic perspective to a catastrophe on an epic scale" (Los Angeles Times). Captivating and ambitious--and inspired by true events--this is a story of race, class, power, privilege, and, ultimately, of promise and hope.

Review Quotes

An Indie Next List Pick An Amazon Editors' Pick for Summer Fiction? One of iBooks "Summer's Most Anticipated Books" Belletrist Book Club's June Book of the Month A New York Times Book Review "New & Noteworthy" Selection An O, the Oprah Magazine "Top Book of Summer" A Town & Country "Best Book to Read This June" A Southern Living "Best New Book of Summer" A Bitter Southerner "Upcoming Southern Novel We Can't Wait to Read" A Refinery29 "Quick Beach Read Practically Written For Weekend Getaways" A Globe and Mail "Coolest Book of the Season" A Publisher's Lunch "Highly Anticipated" Title "Captivating...[Pittard] brings her kaleidoscopic perspective to a catastrophe on an epic scale...With her keen eye for social markers and a deft weave of intersecting storylines, Pittard exposes social fissures and tensions over race and class, and how power and privilege play out in the shadows of grief."--Los Angeles Times "Pittard's novel combines a sense of personal loss and turmoil with greater societal change as the civil rights movement arrives at its peak."--New York Times Book Review, A "New & Noteworthy" selection "Pittard's earlier novels [...] established her as a formidable writer. The prose in Visible Empire [...] remains assured, polished, readable, and she renders a 1962 Atlanta that is vivid and just-enough interconnected. Ultimately, Pittard shoulders the burden of history with responsibility and resolve, and a brave imagination."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution "On June 3, 1962, a flight carrying more than 100 of Atlanta's wealthiest residents crashed on takeoff from Paris. Pittard's kaleidoscopic novel, a fictionalized account of that disaster and its aftermath, illuminates the personal and communal grief (and, in some cases, wicked delight) of those left behind."--O, the Oprah Magazine, "Top Books of Summer" "The writing throughout is masterful, bringing this turbulent time in local history to living, breathing life. A triumph."--Toronto Star "Beautiful...In Pittard's masterful hands, the intricately woven plots and personalities that make up Visible Empire are relatable and corporeal...Pittard's command of voice is so dexterous and adroit...it takes an author of [her] caliber, finesse and nuance to articulate such a complicated place and time as Atlanta in the 1960s."--ArtsATL "In 1962, Air France Flight 007 crashed upon takeoff and all 122 passengers--a group of prominent Atlanta citizens taking an inaugural jaunt on a route from Paris to Georgia--died. In this, the latest novel from Listen to Me author Hannah Pittard, that real-life crash kicks off a fictional series of events that changes a city and its people forever."--Town & Country, "The Best Books to Read This June" "In the emotional aftermath of the June 1962 Paris plane crash that killed 120 of Atlanta's leading citizens, a chorus of grieving survivors tell tales of love and loss, even as their city -- often divided by class and race -- seeks to cope with change and uncertainty."--Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Summer Books" "Embracing the promise and hope that remain in the wake of a crisis, this gripping novel by Atla --

About the Author