The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union here revisits the swashbuckling action of pulp novels, in a story illustrated by Eisner Award–winning cartoonist Gary Gianni and originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine. An odd pair of comrades-in-arms—the lanky, moody physician Zelikman and the gray-haired giant Amram—make their way along the 10th-century Silk Road, living by their swords and their wits and cheerfully separating the gullible from their money until they are dragooned into service by a usurped prince of the Khazar Empire.
"A picaresque, swashbuckling adventure, each chapter charmingly illustrated by Gary Gianni.... [Michael] Chabon's highfalutin writing is an object lesson in style perfectly matched to genre."—Washington Post
"The plot and voice of Gentlemen of the Road recall the stories found in 19th-century dime novels and the fantastic escapades invented by Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. Gary Gianni's drawings highlight particularly thrilling moments.... As might be expected from this sort of storytelling, virtually every chapter introduces a new setting and characters. And although the effect can be dizzying and the plot may twist a time or two too many, it's hard to resist its gathering momentum, not to mention the sheer headlong pleasure of Chabon's language."—NYTimes
