Burned By Books

Andrew Porter, "The Imagined Life: A Novel" (Knopf, 2025)


Listen Later

Steven Mills has reached a crossroads. His wife and son have left, and they may not return. Which leaves him determined to find out what happened to his own father, a brilliant, charismatic professor who disappeared in 1984 when Steve was twelve, on a wave of ignominy.
As Steve drives up the coast of California, seeking out his father’s friends, family members, and former colleagues, the novel offers us tantalizing glimpses into Steve’s childhood—his parents’ legendary pool parties, the black-and-white films on the backyard projector, secrets shared with his closest friend. Each conversation in the present reveals another layer of his father’s past, another insight into his disappearance. Yet with every revelation, his father becomes more difficult to recognize. And, with every insight, Steve must confront truths about his own life.
Rich in atmosphere, and with a stunningly sure-footed emotional compass, The Imagined Life: A Novel (Knopf, 2025) is a probing, nostalgic novel about the impossibility of understanding one’s parents, about first loves and failures, about lost innocence, about the unbreakable bonds between a father and a son.

Andrew Porter is the author of the short story collections The Disappeared and The Theory of Light and Matter and a previous novel, In Between Days. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he has received a Pushcart Prize, a James Michener/Copernicus Fellowship, and the Flannery O’Connor Award for short fiction. His work has appeared in One Story, Ploughshares, American Short Fiction, Narrative, and elsewhere. He currently teaches fiction writing and directs the creative writing program at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Recommended Books:

  • Paul. Lisicky, Songs So Wild and Blue
  • Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum, Elita
  • Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    Burned By BooksBy New Books Network

    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    50 ratings


    More shows like Burned By Books

    View all
    The Book Review by The New York Times

    The Book Review

    3,857 Listeners

    On Being with Krista Tippett by On Being Studios

    On Being with Krista Tippett

    10,416 Listeners

    Fresh Air by NPR

    Fresh Air

    38,189 Listeners

    The New Yorker: Fiction by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

    The New Yorker: Fiction

    3,326 Listeners

    Otherppl with Brad Listi by Brad Listi

    Otherppl with Brad Listi

    520 Listeners

    The Bookshelf by ABC listen

    The Bookshelf

    40 Listeners

    Book Riot - The Podcast by Book Riot

    Book Riot - The Podcast

    949 Listeners

    The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

    The New Yorker Radio Hour

    6,696 Listeners

    The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

    The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

    2,115 Listeners

    Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso by Lemonada Media

    Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

    1,241 Listeners

    Poured Over by Barnes & Noble

    Poured Over

    292 Listeners

    NPR's Book of the Day by NPR

    NPR's Book of the Day

    606 Listeners

    The Book Case by ABC News | Charlie Gibson, Kate Gibson

    The Book Case

    896 Listeners

    Writers on Writing by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone

    Writers on Writing

    77 Listeners

    Critics at Large | The New Yorker by The New Yorker

    Critics at Large | The New Yorker

    605 Listeners