Tightly written, carefully designed to wrong-foot preconceptions, and astute... An intensely gripping story (Evening Standard)Certainly his best book since What is the What, The Parade may well be the sound of a major writer finding his mature voice (Spectator)A readable, atmospheric book (The Times)This is a tale for our time, an allegory about intervening in foreign lands without knowledge, and so a nightmare vision of our endless wars. (Thomas E. Ricks)In The Parade, the anxiety grows with every page and every mile to reach an ending that turns everything upside down and sends us into the heart of darkness. A minimalistic, merciless novel. A powerful allegory and a painfully concrete contemporary story-Eggers is a true virtuoso of that synthesis. (Georgi Gospodinov)Wide-ranging and thoughtful engagement with concepts of power and inequality and whether Western notions of what constitutes 'progress' are always right (Literary Review)It partakes of a complex of anxieties about America's role as an affluent superpower of dubious virtue (Financial Times)Egger's commitment to social and political issues continues (Mail on Sunday)

From the bestselling author of The Monk of Mokha andThe Circle comes a taut, suspenseful story of two foreigners' role in a nation's fragile peace.'Tightly written, carefully designed to wrong-foot preconceptions, and astute... An intensely gripping story' Evening Standard'Certainly his best book since What is the What, The Parade may well be the sound of a major writer finding his mature voice' Spectator

An unnamed country is leaving the darkness of a decade at war, and to commemorate the armistice the government commissions a new road connecting two halves of the state. Two men, foreign contractors from the same company, are sent to finish the highway. While one is flighty and adventurous, wanting to experience the nightlife and people, the other wants only to do the work and go home. But both men must eventually face the absurdities of their positions, and the dire consequences of their presence. With echoes of J. M. Coetzee and Graham Greene, this timeless novel questions whether we can ever understand another nation's war, and what role we have in forging anyone's peace.

Dave Eggers is the author of twelve books, including The Monk of Mokha; The Circle; Heroes of the Frontier; A Hologram for the King, a finalist for the National Book Award; and What Is the What, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and winner of France's Prix Médicis Etranger.

He is the founder of McSweeney's and the cofounder of 826 Valencia, a youth writing center that has inspired similar programs around the world, and of ScholarMatch, which connects donors with students to make college accessible. He is the winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and is the cofounder of Voice of Witness, a book series that illuminates human rights crises through oral history.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letter. His work has been translated into forty- two languages.

www.Internationalcongressofyouthvoices.orgwww.826valencia.orgwww.scholarmatch.orgwww.voiceofwitness.orgwww.valentinoachakdeng.orgwww.mcsweeneys.netwww.daveeggers.net