“If John Steinbeck’s mighty Grapes of Wrath is the tragic novel of the Great Depression, then Heaven’s My Destination is its comic masterpiece. —J.D. McClatchy
A hilarious tale about goodness in a fallen world, Heaven’s My Destination introduces George Marvin Brush, one of Thornton Wilder's most memorable characters. Brush, a traveling textbook salesman, is a fervent religious convert who is determined to lead a good life. With sad and sometimes hilarious consequences, his travels take him through smoking cars, bawdy houses, banks, and campgrounds from Texas to Illinois—and into the soul of Depression-era America itself.
This special edition includes an updated afterword by Wilder’s nephew, Tappan Wilder, with illuminating material about the author and book.
Author Info
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works, exploring the connection between the commonplace and cosmic dimensions of human experience, continue to be read and produced around the world. His Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, as did two of his four full-length dramas, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). Wilder's The Matchmaker was adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly!. He also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them teaching, acting, the opera, and films. (His screenplay for Hitchcock's Shadow of Doubt [1943] remains a classic psycho-thriller to this day.) Wilder's many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Committee's Medal for Literature.
Reviews
“Brilliant and sharp. . . . Wilder’s best novel.” — Edmund Wilson, The New Republic
“Here is a book that provides total pleasure—a picaresque contemporary Candide or Don Quixote, written with both affection and a gimlet eye. . . . It reads like a loving comedy.” — New Yorker
"One of the most American books ever written. . . . Thornton Wilder's best, and most unexpected, book." — Wilfrid Sheed
“A good sardonic etching of this most godless of American ages.” — Commonweal
