William Heinemann Bewilderment: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021 by Richard Powers

Bewilderment by Richard Powers introduces Theo Byrne, a young scientist working on a method to search for life on planets dozens of light years away. At home, he is also a widowed father raising his nine-year-old son, Robin, a child described as funny and loving, with a vivid inner life and a passion for animals and painting.

Robin’s behaviour at school has brought him close to expulsion after an incident in which he smashes a friend’s face with a thermos. As Theo is presented with psychoactive drugs as the only solution for his son, he is forced to consider what else he can do, and how to respond when Robin asks for an explanation of a world that seems drawn to its own destruction. The novel centres on a father’s attempt to take his son to other planets, while supporting Robin’s urgent desire to save this one, and asks how we can tell children the truth about a beautiful, imperilled planet.

Key details

• Author: Richard Powers
• Publisher: William Heinemann
• Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021

Synopsis

Theo Byrne, a scientist searching for life beyond Earth, is raising his nine-year-old son alone. Robin is imaginative and sensitive, but his actions at school put him at risk of expulsion. When medication is offered as the only answer, Theo looks for another way to help his son, while facing Robin’s questions about a world that appears to be destroying itself. At the heart of the story is a father and son looking outward to other planets, and back to the fragile one they live on.