Queen Esther

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

For readers or moviegoers who know The Cider House Rules, a familiar character reappears in Queen Esther—John Irving’s sixteenth novel. Dr. Wilbur Larch is younger than you remember him, and the unadopted orphans at St. Cloud’s are a different cast of characters—a Viennese-born Jew, Esther Nacht, among them. Like The Cider House Rules, Queen Esther is a historical novel with a political theme. Anti-Semitism shapes Esther’s life, not only in Vienna. Esther’s story is fated to intersect with Israel’s history.

The cover art depicts the orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Esther, who is not yet four, is abandoned one winter night. Esther is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship from Bremerhaven to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. At St. Cloud’s, it’s clear to Dr. Larch that the abandoned child not only knows she’s Jewish; she’s familiar with the biblical Queen Esther she was named for. Dr. Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a family who’ll adopt Esther.

When Esther is fourteen, about to become a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows—a philanthropic family with a history of providing for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t anti-Semitic—nor are they Jewish. Esther is enduringly grateful. While she retraces her steps to her birth city, Esther never stops loving and protecting the Winslows—not even in Vienna. In the final chapter of this historical novel—set in Jerusalem, in 1981—Esther Nacht is seventy-six.

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Praise for Queen Esther

“Few skewer sanctimony quite like Irving at his best. More important: I fell in love, once again, with his people.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The novel is quintessential Irving: layered, funny, heartbreaking, and full of the strange humanity he has always captured so well” — Canadian Jewish News

“It’s hard to imagine this historical novel landing at a more timely moment” — Zoomer

“Irving has a lot on his mind [in Queen Esther] — the flow of history, to be sure, but also relationships, the nature of identity and the gnawing horror of antisemitism.” — National Post

“In Queen Esther [Irving] continues to explore themes that are close to his heart: alternative family structures, the rights of sexual and other minorities, and parental love that knows no bounds […] Irving once again proves himself to be a master of broad narrative style and well-thought-out plot development.” — Der Standard (Austria)

“John Irving offers a story as rich and compelling as any of his celebrated predecessors.” — Deutsche Presse Agentur (Germany)

“What other contemporary writer manages to pack so much action, thought, and emotion into a single sentence?” — Münchner Merkur/tz (Germany)

“John Irving’s new novel Queen Esther is a masterpiece — a masterpiece of storytelling, endlessly surprising and brilliantly written.” — freundin (Germany)

“Queen Esther traces the search for identity and the forging of strong, self-determined people — those who shed the roles imposed on them and dare to shape their own lives. A compelling read from the first page to the last.” — Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) 

“John Irving surprises his readers with an unexpected bonus – written with the boldness and sheer joy of a beginner: unbridled in its imagination and construction. He no longer worries about literary expectations and is really letting loose.” — Nederlands Dagblad (Netherlands)

“An incomparable read, full of hilarious scenes, tender love stories, and plenty of razor-sharp satirical edges.” — De Standaard (Netherlands)