The World According to Karp: Irving Exits RH with Bi Novel for S&S

Perennial bestseller John Irving, 69, wants to turn things around: He is leaving longtime publisher Random House because of his declining US book sales while his foreign sales increase. According to Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp, In One Person, Irving's new novel about a bisexual man, will come out during gay pride month 2012. PW notes it is "the author's first work done in first person since 1989's A Prayer for Owen Meany. S&S said the book marks a return to the sexual themes Irving famously explored in The World According to Garp and that the work is also the author's 'most political' since his 1985 novel, which dealt with abortion,The Cider House Rules. Karp added that In One Person is 'both timeless and deeply relevant to our times.'"