Family patriarch Walter Langdon has died, and his children have fanned out across the country. The narrative moves year by year from 1953 to 1986, encompassing Cold War blinkeredness, Sixties rebellion, and escalating wealth into the Eighties.

Elegantly repackaged and reissued to coincide with the release of Smiley's latest novel, "At Paradise Gate" is a brilliant novel that delves into the domestic drama of an ordinary American family. While Ike Robinson lays dying, his wife is forced to defend their marriage against an ill-considered, albeit loving invasion by their three middle-aged daughters.

"Before Jodie Rattler became a star, she was a girl growing up in St. Louis. One day in 1955, when she was just six years old, her Uncle Drew took her to the racetrack, where she got lucky -- and that roll of two-dollar bills she won has never since left her side. Jodie thrived in the warmth of her extended family, and then -- through a combination of hard work and serendipity -- started a singing career, which catapulted her from St. Louis to New...