| In the Distance | |
| Author: | Hernan Diaz |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Coffee House Press |
| Media Type: | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Isbn: | 978-1-56689-488-3 |
| Dewey: | 813/.6 |
| Congress: | PS3604.I17 I5 2017 |
| Oclc: | 975018812 |
| Pub Date: | October 10, 2017 |
In the Distance is a 2017 novel by writer and professor Hernán Diaz.[1] The story recounts the life of Håkan, a Swedish emigrant who is separated from his brother on their journey to the United States in the mid-19th century. Penniless, Håkan travels across the American West, sometimes in very harsh conditions, with the goal of finding his brother in New York City.[2]
The novel took six years to write.[3] Diaz was drawn to the Western genre as he thought it had not "[fulfilled] its promise or potential". Diaz wrote the book in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Carys Davies, for The Guardian, referred to the novel as a "thrilling narrative, full of twists and turns". Catherine Taylor, for the Financial Times, praised In the Distance as an "extraordinary epic tale".[4]
The novel was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction[5] and the Pulitzer Prize.[6]