In his long awaited first novel american master george saunders delivers his most original transcendent and moving work yet unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night narrated by a dazzling chorus of voices lincoln in the bardo is a literary experience unlike any other for no one but saunders could conceive it. In his long awaited first novel american master george saunders delivers his most original transcendent and moving work yet unfolding in a graveyard over the course of a single night narrated by a dazzling chorus of voices lincoln in the bardo is a literary experience unlike any other february 1862. George saunders has long been accepted as one of the masters of the american short story in this his first novel the lincoln trapped in the bardo is willie the cherished 11 year old son of the . Lincoln in the bardo is a 2017 experimental novel by american writer george saunders it is saunderss first full length novel and was the new york times hardcover fiction bestseller for the week of march 5 2017 saunders is better known for his short stories reporting and occasional essays. George saunderss surreal experimental first novel lincoln in the bardo won the man booker prize on tuesday marking the second year in a row that the prize has gone to an american author