THE UNPOSSESSED CITY

New York City, NY: The Penguin Press, 2008. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: The Penguin Press, 2008. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 340 pages. The author's second novel. One of the best novels on post-Communist Russia, as seen from an American novelist's "outsider/insider" perspective. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Elsa Chiao's DJ design, which utilizes an evocative photograph of Moscow by the great photojournalist Adri Berger, is outstanding. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Jon Fasman's "The Unpossessed City". A Le Carre-inspired twist to the espionage thriller genre. "Jim Vilatzer lives at home and works in his parents' restaurant. He's going nowhere until gambling debts force him to make a change. He lands a job in Moscow (he grew up speaking Russian to his immigrant grandparents), interviewing survivors of the Gulag for a not-for-profit company. His work soon makes him a pawn in a scheme to sell to the highest bidder four of the former USSR's top weapons engineers which, in turn, leads him to become a target of Russian state security and the CIA. Fasman weaves two very different plotlines, one the story of a man discovering a new world and realizing that his roots are more important than he realized, the other tracking the machinations of crooked Russian officials to sell fellow citizens for a profit. The first plot is deftly, even lovingly achieved: Fasman's Moscow is beautiful, tragic, brutal, and exhilarating. The second storyline is more convoluted and arcane. The sum of the parts in this lyrically written novel is more than enough to keep readers engaged" (Thomas Gaughan). An absolute "must-have" title for Jon Fasman collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed and dated (in month and year of publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Jon Fasman Nov. 10, 2008". It is signed directly on the page itself, not a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed and publication-month dated copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Jon Fasman's "The Geographer's Library" was one of the most important literary debuts of the decade. One of the most brilliant American writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JON FASMAN TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1594201900.