The World and All That It Holds

“Love is not the engine of history, but it certainly makes for an indispensable source of auxiliary power in the historical novel . . . In this novel idyll and ordeal are not stable categories, but slide past each other.”—Adam Mars-Jones, The New York Times Book Review

"The World and All That It Holds would be an audacious title for a book by anybody except God—or Aleksandar Hemon. But this Bosnian American author will make you a believer."—Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"In the weeks since I finished Aleksandar Hemon’s unlike-any-novel-I’ve-read-before The World and All That It Holds, I have puzzled over how vividly it remains with me—I keep reentering this world, its sensory intensity more palpable than many memories of my own life."—Rachel Cohen, The Boston Globe

“Hemon’s writing is both gripping and lucid. He creates this work around such meticulous texture that the reader can stand alongside Pinto, and feel the cities as if they were with him . . . The World And All That It Holds is a book that will resonate with readers because it shows how a life with purpose is one that is constant motion."—Edward Banchs, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Aleksandar Hemon’s The World and All That It Holds is one of the finest novels I’ve ever read, and like all great stories, it refuses to be pigeonholed. It’s a road novel, an immigrant tale, a ghost story, a family portrait, a mystery, a historical epic, a war novel, and yes, a love story—it is all that and more, a feat of unfettered literary bravura. In short, a masterpiece.”—Rabih Alameddine, author of The Wrong End of the Telescope

"Hemonites rejoice! The master is back and he has forged a remarkable tale of love and war alongside his own 20th Century Silk Road. From Sarajevo to Shanghai, every sentence, every paragraph is a sensuous and often hilarious delight. Not a Hemonite yet? I envy you your very first encounter with one of the world's greatest writers."—Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends

"The World and All That It Holds is a twisting, turning epic rooted in love in all its forms; an odyssey of statelessness; a haunted museum of history ranging from Sarajevo to Shanghai and Jerusalem; and an apothecary of wit, folklore and unexpectable sentences. This life-stuffed novel is Aleksandar Hemon’s masterpiece.”—David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas

"The World and All that It Holds is an explosive novel. Bursting with energy, wits, and insights, it’s an epic meditation on history, philosophy, and human conditions. Aleksandar Hemon once again proves him to be one of our most innovative and invigorating novelists."—Yiyun Li, author of The Book of Goose

“The World And All That It Holds is a masterwork of the epic and the intimate. I lost myself to this tale of Sarajevans drawn into the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and their fight to survive in the war that followed. It is a staggering work of beauty and brutality, a testament to love, family, and the ties that call us home.”—Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain

“This book is a refuge. Amid the catastrophe and unimaginable loss, you can still find heartbreaking kindness; you can still hear songs and laughter; still know the tender brush of a lover’s whiskered cheek. Every page folds itself around you, as comforting as an embrace, and in those pages, you will feel Aleksandar Hemon’s heart beating beside yours.”—Lana Wachowski, filmmaker

"An astoundingly expansive new novel form one of my all-time favorite writers. The World and All That It Holds is at once a heartbreaking love story and a thrilling history of twentieth-century Eurasia. It's an amazing accomplishment of epic history and personal drama."—Jesse Eisenberg