In 1862, during his Presidency, Abraham Lincoln's beloved son, Willie, passed away, and was interred in the crypt at Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown area of Washington D.C. The President was consumed by grief, and had been known to go into the crypt to hold the lifeless body of his son. Lincoln Senior did not cope well at all with his grief, and the novel focuses on one single evening between him and his son. The events of the evening take place in the Bardo, which is a Tibetan notion of the transitional place between life and re-birth.
The novel's interpretation of this Buddhist belief has the Bardo as more of a purgatory for lost souls who are haunted by the things that then did not accomplish whilst they were alive. This is ironic for the author; known best as an essayist, and always apprehensive about writing a full length novel, he was finally compelled to do so by the fear of becoming too old to embark on the project, and passing away before taking the plunge into novel writing, presumably then destined to wade around the Bardo himself wishing he had done so. Although the idea of the Bardo is a Buddhist one, Saunders used some poetic license in the book's spiritual stance as a whole, also incorporating both Egyptian and Christian beliefs about the next life as well.
Saunders' reluctance to write a full-length novel wasn't rooted entirely in fear; his primary concern was always that he couldn't properly sustain character development over anything longer than an essay, or a short story. Consequently it is for the writing of these, as well as his reporting work, that he is best known. This first novel was tremendously well-received and was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2017, and made both the New York Times and USA Today best-seller lists.
Saunders is also well-known for recording audio-book versions of his work, and this novel was also adapted in this way, with Megan Mullally, Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon amongst the voices cast. Mullally and her husband, Nick Offerman, also bought the film rights to the book, promising to keep Saunders involved in the adaptation process.
