Publisher's Synopsis
Nick Blake has just returned from the battlefields of Europe and is part of a lost generation trying to make its way in postwar America. As he sets out on a journey across the country, the summer of 1947 comes alive in a mind-bending, history-altering romp. Nick witnesses the birth of electric blues in Chicago, encounters the first members of the Beat Generation taking to the road, gets caught up with the original motorcycle gang invading small-town America, and is party to the first sightings of UFOs across the Midwestern skies. Along the way, he encounters a young Muddy Waters, an even younger Jack Kerouac, and a blues-loving, harmonica-playing alien named Jaxson Epsilon, the most unusual character of them all. Jaxson has a secret that is about to change the course of human history as he endeavors to alter the dreams of every man, woman, and child for generations to come.In this groundbreaking exploration of the brain, dreams, and neurology, the reader is thrust into the dark corners and hidden pathways of human consciousness. The Chronicle of Stolen Dreams is alternately profound, hilarious, and provocative as it poses theories of human behavior that challenge all accepted wisdom. The book is part Vonnegut, part Rushdie, part Chabon, and entirely Tarnoff as the author of "The Bone Man of Benares" and "The Thousand Year Journey of Tobias Parker" pushes into a whole new universe of ideas. The summer of 1947 will never again be seen the same way.
