Alex George Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Alex George is a bookseller, author, lawyer, and director of a literary festival. The English born author currently lives in America after he got married to a woman from the Midwest. His breakthrough novel “A Good American” came out in 2012 and was a critical as well as commercial success. It was an international bestseller that also won the Best Book of the Year by Library Journal, a Midwest Connections Pick, Number One Indie Next Pick, Best Book of the Month on Amazon, and a Discover New Writers Pick by Barnes and Noble. His other blockbuster work was the 2017 published “Setting Free The Kites” that also won several awards. “Paris Hours” that he published in 2020 under an imprint of Macmillan became an instant national bestseller and also won several awards including Best Book of the Month on Amazon. In addition to his novels, Alex has been featured in a variety of publications including Literary Hub and The Washington Post among many others.

While Alex George is now a full-time author, he went to Oxford University, where he studied the law before he started practicing as a corporate lawyer in Paris and London. In 2003, he immigrated to the United States, where he became an author. In addition to writing novels, he is also the owner of Skylark Bookshop, an independent bookstore in downtown Columbia. He is also the director and founder of The Unbound Book Festival which in April 2020 held its fifth annual festival. It has become a popular festival that has attracted some of the biggest names in the literary world such as George Saunders, Michael Ondaatje, Zadie Smith, and Salman Rushdie. He still practices as an attorney whenever he finds a case that piques his interest. George was named one of Britain’s top novelists in their thirties by the Times of London. Independent on Sunday also named the author a face to watch in their Fresh Talent column. Alex is currently married to Alexandra Socarides, a critic, professor, and writer with who he lives with in Columbia, MO.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Alex George did not become interested in writing as a child though he has always been a big reader. In the 1990s, he had just begun working as an attorney in London and during his free time thumbed through a variety of novels that he thought awful. He complained to his friend and said that he could do better and his friend told him to put his money where his mouth was and write something. Being a highly confident youth in his twenties, he accepted the challenge even though he did not have any qualifications having studied law in college. He certainly never got an MFA and believes that his confidence was just ignorance and early hubris. George believes that with the exceptions of his mother, everyone else including himself as surprised that he made a career in writing. In a recent interview, he asserted that he fell into writing by accident and was lucky enough to find people daft enough to publish his novels while he was dumb enough to keep on writing. He currently has more than seven novels with his first four getting published in his homeland in the United Kingdom while the rest got published in Europe and other territories. Alex got his fair share of rejection letters from American publishers when he was starting, and it was not until he moved to the US that he got some of his works accepted for publishing.

Alex George’s “A Good American” is a novel set in 1904 where Jette and Frederick flee from their disapproving mother intending to go to the United States. They had planned to go to New York but at the last minute, they changed their plans and decided to go to New Orleans. However, by chance rather than design, they soon find themselves living in Beatrice, a small town of Missouri. They do not speak a word of English as they start their new lives in small-town America. Their new hometown is full of eccentric characters. There is the malevolent bicycle-riding dwarf, the jazz trumpeter from New Orleans who makes the best gumbos in town, a minister that claims to have been a witness to the Second Coming of Christ, a beautiful school teacher who teaches music and more, and a shy and retiring boy trapped in a huge body. The story is told by James who is the grandson to Jette and Frederick who comes to realize that he does not know his story even as he tells that of his progenitors. From the Kennedy Assassination to sweet barbershop harmonies from Prohibition to bare-knuckle prizefighting, he tells a gripping story of his family through history. Every new generation comes to a fresh realization of what it means to be an American. As they live their lives, they also realize more about themselves and how their decisions combined with the events of the times impact their lives.

“Setting Free the Kites” by Alex George opens to the first meeting between Nathan Tilly and Robert Carter that will soon be fast friends. They met on the first day of school in 1976 as eighth-graders at a time when Robert had resigned himself to another year of misery. He had been bullied by Hollis for several years until Nathan came in to stop the bully. He had found him getting his head dunked in the toilet, which made for quite a memorable meeting. Their friendship grows rapidly even though they could not be any more different in temperament. Robert is a cautious boy perhaps because of the protectiveness showered on him by his parents while Nathan is a carefree and brave boy obsessed with all things flying. They bring out the best in each other and even though they live in a small town with pretty much nothing to do, they are soon inseparable particularly after two tragedies. The two boys get offered employment at the Robert family-owned amusement park, which is something that complicates and occupies their lives. But Robert’s parents are going through a rough patch in their marriage and this is affecting Robert too. Nathan is his usual old self as he takes each situation with a constantly positive, never fail attitude that earns him the attention of the most beautiful girl in town. It is not long before Robert and Nathan’s relationship starts to get strained given their different perspectives in life. Robert misses the old days when they had an “us against the world attitude,” which seems to slip further away with each passing day.

Alex George’s “The Paris Hours” is set in Paris a city teeming with musicians, writers, and artist that makes it a crucible of artistic genius. But in the mid of all the glitz and lights, four regular persons are looking for something they lost. Camille works for Marcel Proust as a housemaid and recently was told to burn some notebooks but kept one for herself. But she lost the notebook and now needs to find it before her employer does and realizes that she had betrayed her trust. An Armenian refugee named Souren works as a puppeteer and makes puppet shows unlike anything they ever saw before. Guillaume is a lovesick artist who cannot seem to find a run of luck and is now running from a huge debt when into his studio walks Gertrude Stein who might just change everything. The fourth is a journalist named Jean-Paul that is an expert at telling the stories of other people since he finds his own too painful to tell. When their paths finally cross, it makes for a remarkable climax as they all discover that they have found the elusive thing they had been looking for. The story is set in 1927 and is told in a single day as it combines the stories of four different people and the extraordinary city they call home.

One Response to “Alex George”

1. Marilyn Nold: 3 years ago

   I searched my Kindle for your books and found an informative and very interesting article about you and your books. I am intrigued and excited to begin reading. I will read them on my Kindle but plan to purchase copies to share with friends and family.
   I am thrilled that Galen mentioned you are an author.

   Sincerely,
   Marilyn

   Reply