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Development history

The novel was released by Alfred A. Knopf on September 26, 2006. In his interview by Oprah Winfrey, McCarthy indicated that the inspiration for The Road came during a 2003 visit to El Paso, Texas, with his young son. Imagining what the city might look like in the future, he pictured "fires on the hill" and thought about his son. He took some initial notes but did not return to the idea until a few years later, while in Ireland. Then, the novel came to him quickly, and he dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy.^[1]