Henderson the Rain King is a seriocomic novel by Saul Bellow, first published in 1959. The novel examines the midlife crisis of Eugene Henderson, an unhappy millionaire. The story concerns Henderson's search for meaning. A larger-than-life 55-year-old who has accumulated money, position, and a large family, he nonetheless feels unfulfilled. He makes a spiritual journey to Africa, where he draws emotional sustenance from experiences with African tribes. Deciding that his true destiny is as a healer, Henderson returns home, planning to enter medical school.

“A kind of wildly delirious dream made real by the force of Bellow’s rollicking prose and the offbeat inventiveness of his language.” —Chicago Tribune

“Bellow’s aura of fable is constantly washed over by humor, impulsive creation, and actual, turbulent detail.” —The Nation

Saul Bellow won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel HUMBOLDT’S GIFT in 1975, and in 1976 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature ‘for the human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture that are combined in his work.’ He is the only novelist to receive three National Book Awards, for THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH, HERZOG, and MR. SAMMLER’S PLANET

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Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five, in the basement of his family’s home in upstate New York. He played the non-speaking “Old Gardener” in a drama written by his seven older siblings. The character was murdered in the opening scene, setting the plot in motion. Joe does not remember the plot but knows the murder was gruesome and heinous. Joe has gone on to play many stage roles, old and young, both on and off-Broadway and in regional theaters from Los Angeles to Houston to St. Louis to Washington, D.C. to San Francisco to Portland, Maine. He has appeared in films and television, prime time and late night, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials. Joe is a two time Audie Award finalist and has won six Earphones Awards from Audiofile Magazine. That magazine said of Joe’s narration of John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany: “This moving book comes across like a concerto in this audio version, with a soloist – Owen’s voice – rising from the background of an orchestral narration.” Publishers Weekly had this to say about Joe’s narration of Richard Ford’s The Lay of the Land: “[Frank Bascombe] must be one of the most difficult fictional characters to bring to audio life [but] Barrett . . . has a voice that . . . catches every nuance from the odd to the tragic.” Joe is married to actor Andrea Wright. They have four great big children.

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