Helen Simonson’s charming debut novel “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” was an instant New York Times bestseller, drawing the highest critical acclaim. Now, after five years of research and writing, Simonson – a resident of Brooklyn Heights – is releasing today her highly anticipated second novel “The Summer Before the War.” In an interview with the Brooklyn Eagle, … Read More →
A literary novel for the summer that is both redemptive and utterly transporting, “No. 4 Imperial Lane” is an epic family story, reminiscent of Nick Hornby and Alan Hollinghurst, which takes readers from 1980s Brighton to the midst of revolutionary Angola. A singular debut from a seasoned New York Times reporter, Jonathan Weisman, “No. 4 Imperial Lane” is a book about the intersection … Read More →
Award-winning Brooklyn writer Helen Phillips will soon release “The Beautiful Bureaucrat” (Henry Holt; on sale Aug. 11) — a book that traces the story of Josephine, a newly married young woman who is relieved to finally have a job after a long period of unemployment and a string of bad luck. In a windowless building … Read More →
“Heist,” by Brooklyn author Jeff Diamant, was originally published in 2002 and is the basis of the forthcoming major motion picture “Masterminds,” starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristin Wiig. Now, Diamant’s revised and updated edition chronicles the incredible true story of a cast of irresistibly colorful, down-on-their-luck characters in a small, poor town in North Carolina, … Read More →
Historian Dr. Nina Ansary, born in Tehran, is an expert in the women’s movement in Iran. The author of “Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran,” Ansary will appear at the powerHouse Arena in DUMBO on July 23 to speak about her book, which challenges Western assumptions about women in Iran and … Read More →
Brooklyn BookBeat By Benjamin Preston Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Where is the line between fact and fiction? It can be a blurry one even in fiction, where fact isn’t even fact. And ultimately, trying to know everything about another person’s history and circumstances borders on the absurd, even, suggests novelist Rachel Kushner, if … Read More →
Brooklyn BookBeat “The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty” is the fourth novel from award-winning novelist and The Believer magazine founding co-editor, Vendela Vida. Vida will be at the powerHouse Arena at 37 Main St. in DUMBO on June 9 for a reading of her new novel. Character-driven and psychologically penetrating, this novel of ideas set in … Read More →
Brooklyn BookBeat “Safekeeping,” by Brooklyn resident Jessamyn Hope, is an expansive debut novel about love, the inevitability of loss and the courage it takes to keep starting over. Set against the backdrop of Jewish history, “Safekeeping” explores human perseverance through the stories of six troubled characters whose lives intersect one summer on a kibbutz in … Read More →
Brooklyn BookBeat: NY-Based Author to Speak in Cobble Hill New Yorker Christopher Bollen brings his personal life into his fiction writing as he ventures into the world of Long Island in his newest book, “Orient.” “Orient” is now on sale, and Bollen will visit BookCourt in Cobble Hill for a launch event on May 27. … Read More →