A novel by Norah Labiner
April 1, 2000 • 6 x 9 • 442 pages • 978-1-56689-072-4
In her brilliant first novel Norah Labiner introduces Pearl Christomo, an elusive, forgetful, ambitious, and talented narrator, herself an aspiring novelist, who finds that the fictions she writes resemble her own life, and that her own life resembles nothing so much as a set piece from Hamlet. Complex and subtle, Labiner’s engrossing book is both a sly joke on and an homage to the coming of age/portrait of the artist genre.
About the Author
Norah Labiner is the author of three previous novels: Our Sometime Sister, Miniatures, and German for Travelers. She has received a Minnesota Book Award for Literary Fiction, as well as fellowships from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been recognized by the American Library Association, the Jewish Book Council, and the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers series. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Reviews
“An intelligent, original, complex, sometimes humorous, sometimes disturbing novel. Ms. Labiner takes an old theme, writing a novel and the novel inside the novel, and turns it upside down besides making it new. A bold start and a bright future.” —Stephen Dixon
“Labiner, narrating in several distinct and haunting voices, proves herself a metafictional adept. She succeeds in crafting an ambitious, poignant and sharp-tongued novel filled with secrets and ghosts, jealous and love.” —Publishers Weekly