Census

When a widower learns that he doesn't have long to live, he is struck by the question of who will care for his adult son, who has Down syndrome. With a desire to see the country on one last trip with his son, the man signs up as a census taker for a mysterious governmental bureau.Traveling farther into the country, through towns named by letters of the alphabet, the man and his son encounter a wide range of human experience. While some townspeople welcome the pair into their homes, others are wary of their presence. As they approach Z, the man must ask: What is the purpose of the census? And just how will he learn to say goodbye to his son?Wrenching and beautiful, Census is a novel about free will, the power of memory, and the ferocity of parental love. It is also an indictment of the cruelties of our society by a major writer.