Bücher veröffentlicht von Heliotrope Books LLC

From Francis Levy, author of Seven Days in Rio, which The New York Times called "a fever dream of a novel," comes The Kafka Studies Department, a highly original collection of short, parable-like stories infused with dark humor, intellect, and insight about the human condition. While the book's style is deceptively simple and aphoristic, it carries a hallucinatory moral message. A prism of interconnected and intertwined tales, inspired by Kafka, the stories examine feckless central characters who are far from likable, but always recognizable and wildly human. "Knowledge is not power, power is not power. Life is irrational or accidental or both. We drift victims, victimizers. A collection for our time."-Joan Baum, NPR "A collection of bleak and amusing literary short stories from Levy...A dark, sometimes funny, meditation on the absurd trials of life."-Kirkus Reviews "Francis Levy has an unhampered, endearingly maverick imagination-as if Donald Barthelme had met up with Maimonides and, together, they decided to write about the world as it appeared to them. These deceptively simple and parable-like stories are full of wily pleasures and irreverent wisdom about everything from the failure of insight to make anything happen, to the subtle gratifications of friendship, to the tragicomedy of eros."-Daphne Merkin, author of This Close to Happy and 22 Minutes of Unconditional Love

In lyrical prose, with musical allusions, clinical references, and a bit of comic relief, Rearranged follows Kathleen Watt's plunge from the operatic stage into the netherworld of hospital life-its indigenous creatures, its peculiar language, its signposts of the mysterious human condition-through the devastation of cancer, and out the other side. Kathleen was a New York opera singer at mid-career, with a steady, lucrative chorus job at the Metropolitan Opera and solo gigs elsewhere, anticipating her best year ever. Instead, a vicious bone cancer blew her plans to smithereens, along with her face. She had to let everything go. Bit by bit, through a brutal alchemy of lethal toxins, titanium screws, and infinite kindness, she discovered new arrangements for old pieces, in a life catastrophically transposed. Not only a heart-wrenching medical odyssey, but an ultimately joyous personal journey of transformation. "Watt is a sharply descriptive writer who is unafraid to address the horror of her treatment... Unapologetically frank, the author also has a wry, sometimes self-effacing sense of humor that brings levity to a distressing subject. ... The result is a finely textured and courageous literary memoir that is inspirational and, at times, darkly amusing."-Kirkus Reviews "A gripping portrayal of the devastation cancer can spread in one's health, relationships, and dreams, and Watt's sweeping storytelling will transport readers to each procedure and hospital room alongside her. She provides insights into the medical torment involved with her treatment, such as being comatose and experiencing ICU psychosis, and ultimately gifts readers with front row seats to her most triumphant performance to date-surviving cancer and having the strength and courage to relive the harrowing journey within the pages of this story. The end result is both heart-breaking and uplifting and will touch the heart of any readers affected by a life-altering illness." -Publisher's Weekly "Kathleen Watt's narrative memoir reveals her indomitable humanity, indefatigable spirit, and remarkable endurance. She has written with transparency, bravery, honesty, and fairness. The rhythm, cadence and artistry of her words embodies her forever-musicianship, and she has deployed her gifted voice in a tour-de-force written performance. Patients, health care professionals and every-day folk alike will benefit greatly from her lessons imparted and her wisdom shared."-Douglas Brandoff, MD, FAAHPM, Attending Physician, Palliative Care Clinic, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Alumnus, Juilliard Pre-College Division, cello "Kathleen's account of her experience with Osteogenic Sarcoma ... is a very intimate portrayal... Anyone going through something like this will absolutely benefit from reading this beautifully written book." -Peter D. Costantino, MD, FACS, Brain and Spine Surgery of New York"Kathleen Watt has turned her harrowing experience, as an opera singer diagnosed with facial bone cancer, into a story that is fresh, gripping, and also remarkably entertaining. Her voice-smart, funny, and disarmingly forthright-makes this book shine..."-Helen Fremont, award-winning author of national bestsellers The Escape Artist and After Long Silence¿¿¿"Rearranged is set to become a seminal memoir." -Carly-Jay Metcalfe, author of Breath, forthcoming March 2024 from University of Queensland Press

The Summer My Sister Was Cleopatra Moon is an emotionally charged, cautionary tale about alienation and the spiritual deformity that ensues when it feels like the whole world hates you. In the summer of '76, with no other Koreans in Glover, Virginia, fourteen-year-old Marcy Moon idolizes her irreverent big sister Cleo, who has her pick of lovers and uses her sexuality to prevail against racism. In Marcy's eyes, every guy would cut off his ponytail, burn his guitar and shoot old ladies if you told him to. Her dream, a dangerous one, is to be like Cleo. Central to the story is the girls' inability to bond with their mom, who left her heart behind in North Korea and finds it difficult to love her daughters the way a mother should. Most heartbreaking is the sisters' love for their dad, a complicated and worldly man who wants to be the best father and provider, but, in the end, cannot escape his demons. "In her coming-of-age novel about two sisters, every page of which bears the imprint of her emotional and spiritual investment, Frances Park shows what a woman writer can achieve with such rich material at hand."-The Strait Times, Singapore "... bold, powerful comedy... The parents in particular are sketched with an unflinching eye for pathos that can be fairly heartbreaking... Frances Park's writing on adolescence is readable, unsentimental and... entrancing."-The London Times "A fresh take ... by a writer from a generation whose voice has seldom been heard."-Kirkus Reviews (of Frances Parks's memoir writing) "...Frances Park pulls off an improbability here: the ability to make you laugh one minute, cry the next, maintaining a dizzying highwire balancing act as Marcy shares her own American tale, one rich in both humor and heartbreak." -Scott Saalman, columnist, author of Vietnam War Love Story: The Love Letters of Bill and Nancy Young (1967)"This is a delicate, humane, funny novel...that stands with the best tradition of imaginative writing."-The Tapei Times"Park's poignant novel...comes to us as a cautionary tale about the perils of the American dream."-The Korea Times"The story captured a vivid image of sisterhood in all its complex glory and gore. I couldn't put the book down."-The Korean Quarterly"... written with gusto... and will likely find a place in summer beach bags."-Washington Post Book World"A deftly funny, but in the end, heartbreaking exploration of a first-generation Korean family trying to make their way in a '70s suburban America that doesn't always welcome them..."-Steve Adams, Pushcart Prize-winning author of Remember This

After New York attorney Will Ross gains acquittal for a child abuser and the child is subsequently killed, he resolves to abandon law and become a children's entertainer. Will's change of heart and career is a catalyst for his lover, Clara, who quits her prestigious job to pursue documentary film-making. While the couple are united in their fervor for their nascent careers in art, unexpected challenges rip them apart. Feeling abandoned, Will ventures into his new passion, donning clown shoes, picking up his old guitar, and taking on a special guitar student. Only when the boy's life is threatened does Will take up law again, fighting not only to protect the child, but to clear his guilt and free himself to love. "I couldn't put Clown Shoes down. It has all the ingredients-redemption, love, second chances. Will and Clara are flawed, engaging characters, whose quests to follow their bliss are poignant and at times hilarious. Markowitz artfully corners the question of whether we really need freedom for ourselves-or from ourselves. If you dig in, you're probably in for a late night!"-Caren Lissner, author of Carrie Pilby, now a movie starring Bel Powley, Nathan Lane, and Gabriel Byrne "Clown Shoes, Robert Markowitz's soulful and hilarious debut novel-based on his soulful and hilarious New York Times piece-was prescient in proving the current wisdom of the Zeitgeist that Your Job Won't Love You Back....one man's inspiring reinvention."-Susan Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author and writing professor "Clown Shoes beautifully dramatizes the kind of existential crisis so many of us face in middle age. That Robert Markowitz writes with as much aplomb as his floundering protagonist sorely lacks makes this debut novel sometimes heartbreaking, occasionally profound, and often funny as hell."-Chris Belden, author of Shriver, now a movie, A Little White Lie, starring Kate Hudson and Michael Shannon

From Lowney Handy's scandalous small-town open marriage to author JamesJones's extraordinary apprenticeship with Maxwell Perkins, Star-Crossed Lovers illuminates an unforgettable lovestory. She was an eccentric small-town self-taught rebel, driven by creative zeal and anon-conformist streak. He was a distressed ex-GI (flat broke, without prospects,damaged by war), 17 years younger than she, consumed by visions of a writer's life.Advocating for Jones's "medical discharge" from the Army in the summer of 1944,Lowney and her husband invited Jones to live and write at their home in Robinson,Illinois. After years of struggle, Jones's From Here to Eternity wonthe National Book Award and profoundly transformed American literature. The 1953 filmadaptation swept the Academy Awards in 1954. Expanding their shared vision of life,the Handys and Jones incorporated a unique writers' colony in 1951 that was fundedmostly by Jones's Eternity royalties. This is their odyssey of love, passion, and conflict,which remains exceptional in literary history."Fascinating story-kept my interest throughout."-OLIVER STONE, Academy Award-winning writer/director " ... The downright surreal story of James Jones and Lowney Handy, and what they accomplished."-ERICA HELLER, author of Yossarian Slept Here and One Last Lunch "Oh, to be young and a writer and finding your way with an exotic older woman! M. J. Moore's Star-Crossed Lovers is an incredible tale...Indispensable!"-LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV, author of Dress Gray, Heart of War, and other novels; Village Voice staff writer; West Point graduate "In today's age of flimsy comic-book characters passing for superheroes, it is life-affirming-hell, it's vital-to recall the red-blooded humanity James Jones poured into his 1951 National Book Award-winning From Here to Eternity. At its core is an iconoclastic love story...all of which Moore soundly spells out in engaging and impressively researched detail."-STEPHEN M. SILVERMAN, author of The Catskills: Its History and How It Changed America; and Dancing on the Ceiling: Stanley Donen and His Movies

Tony D'Marino lives a seemingly charmed existence. From immigrant roots to a Harvard MBA, he's amassed a formidable stock portfolio and owns a sprawling Soho loft with Hudson River views. But images of post-apocalyptic Detroit have triggered a traumatic memory from his college years in the '70s-memories he can't live with or without. He's desperate to reconnect with parts of himself left unfinished when his best friend Roman was left dead by his side. Tony's return to an officially bankrupt, dystopian Detroit begins with a series of uncanny experiences, with old and new relationships. He's driven to answer essential questions about the murder and face conflicts around race, maleness, and sexuality left unresolved. Detroit Unrequited is part psychological mystery and part historical reflection. It is a tale of lives derailed by trauma and attempts at resolution and reinvention for the characters and the post-apocalyptic city. "Detroit is a fascinating city-whether in the 1970s, the 2010s, or today-and Cancelmo evokes it with urgency and tenderness over the course of this novel." -Kirkus Reviews "Joe Cancelmo's deft and absorbing Detroit Unrequited investigates the challenges of growing up in the turmoil of 1970s Detroit. His complex and likable characters grapple with the big issues: forming an identity, the nature of home, the fault lines of race in our culture. In vivid prose and lively dialogue, Cancelmo shines a light on a specific culture moment that continues to resonate today."-Carol Wallace, author of Our Kind of People "Tony, a financially successful middle-aged man, mired in alcohol, social isolation, and tenacious survivor guilt, delves into the tragedy that shattered his exciting but chaotic college years in the racially torn, sexually liberated Detroit of the mid-'70s. When he returns to Detroit years later, his suspense-filled investigation stirs memories of traumas endured in quiet desperation -the shadows of childhood sexual abuse and the confusion of an unacknowledged love derailed by gun violence. His quest to fully apprehend what happened becomes a passionate search for lost loves and a dormant craving for new ones. Tony's story toggles between the '70s and the 2010s, but its dialogue with race, post-binary gender identities and desire, and socio-economic disparities are every bit as compelling today. Cancelmo's prose so vividly paints Tony's lived experience that it was only at the end did I fully appreciate the depth and complexity of Tony's struggles. A masterful portrait of one person's psychological reality in all its contradictions and strivings." -Paul Geltner, DSW, Psychoanalyst, and author of the acclaimed Emotional Communication in Psychoanalysis."A John Grisham-like page-turner, a psychological mystery about the protagonist's life changing loss, the traumatic impact of the killing of a college friend in Detroit in the '70s. The narrative, the cadence of words, the period slang make this a most compelling read." -Janice S. Lieberman, Ph.D., Psychoanalyst, Social Psychologist, and author of Body Talk: Looking and Being Looked at in Psychotherapy and co-author of The Many Faces of Deceit: Omissions, Lies, and Disguise in Psychotherapy with Helen K. Gediman, Ph.D.

A luminous memoir of love and grief from the author of Common People First U.S. EditionAlison Light met the radical social historian, Raphael Samuel, in London in 1986. Twenty years her senior, Raphael was a charismatic figure on the British Left, utterly driven by his work and by a commitment to collective politics. Within a year they were married. Within ten, Raphael would pass away.Theirs was an attraction of opposites- he from a Jewish Communist family with its roots in Russia and Eastern Europe, she from the English working class. In this chronicle of a passionate marriage, Alison Light peels back the layers of their time together, its intimacies and its estrangements."...more than just some summing-up: it is a work of art." -GUARDIAN "Remarkable, moving, illuminating. A memoir of cauterizing honesty. This is a book that deserves to be widely read." -MARK BOSTRIDGE, SPECTATOR "An inspiring account of ... deep love..." -TLS "Beautifully crafted...it casts a light on the lightness of love and the profound depression of loss. A truly gifted writer." -HERALD "The portrait of Spitalfields is superb, and so is the account of Raphael's astonishing mother Minna." -MARGARET DRABBLE, TLS, BOOK OF THE YEAR "Compulsively readable. Light is a shrewd narrator...She reflects with careful psychological and philosophical insight on the reality of loneliness and profound loss following ten years of marriage...Light is also a poet and it shows in certain suppositions and propositions..." -RTE

For decades starting in the 1950s, Raymond Patriarca ran the New England Mafia out of a storefront in Providence, Rhode Island. By 1980 he was seventy-two years old, and suffering from diabetes and heart disease. One night in December of that year his life intersected with that of Dr. Barbara Roberts, a thirty-six-year old single mother of three, who was the first female cardiologist to practice in Rhode Island. Asked by Raymond's family to check on him after he was arrested on capital charges, Barbara-a naive Alice in Wonderland-entered a looking-glass world populated by pitfalls, moral ambiguities and dangers for which her devout upbringing had not prepared her. How did a former Catholic schoolgirl from a working-class family become the physician and defender of one Mafioso, and the mistress of another? How did her children handle these scandalous associations and the resulting hostile publicity-and what were the reactions of their fathers? Expanding on the story first told in the popular Crimetown podcast, this memoir is a tale of motherhood, political activism, controversy, heartbreak and survival; it traces one woman's trajectory against the backdrop of America's 20th century upheavals.

The Los Angeles Times said it best: "Puzo [was] a man who . . . remained in the shadows throughout his long career as a novelist and screenwriter, only rarely speaking to the press." That may not seem like such an oddity until one is reminded that during the mid-1970s The Godfather sold more copies per year than any other book except the Bible...Puzo was also a writer who struggled for decades before any success occurred; and only after age 50 was he an author whose success was so prodigious that it affected, tainted, defined, and pigeonholed the artist who, out of economic desperation and romantic imagination (plus will power and the ability to follow through), created the single most recognizable of American protagonists.In the life of Puzo, all roads led to The Godfather. No other writer of his generationcreated such an internationally embraced, mythic, beloved tale. . . . Although Mario Puzo had received major critical praise for his first two novels (1955's The Dark Arenaand 1965's The Fortunate Pilgrim), sales were all but flat. Then: Badly indebted, with five children, pushing 50 and plagued by stress, he vowed to write a best-seller.His third novel was The Godfather. "Backed up by hard facts and filled with behind-the-scenes stories, M. J. Moore's book is a definititive guide for all fans of Mario Puzo who want to know more about his life, work, and personal achievements." -Carol Gino, author of The Nurse's Story, Rusty's Story, and Me & Mario "Puzo's fans will appreciate this warm portrait." -Kirkus Reviews "Moore begins by recounting Puzo's Hell's Kitchen upbringing, his Army service as a clerk during and after WWII, his persistent money troubles ... and his investigation by the FBI for selling draft deferments. Moore is at his best when using these details ..." -Publishers Weekly

Despite the notion of female solidarity, almost every office has its feud-usually between two women. In The Feud, a work friendship goes bad. Very bad. During the mid-nineties, the Internet was new and cell phones were rare. Nikki and Roberta employ these emerging technologies as they engage in a war of betrayals that threatens one with the loss of her boyfriend and reputation and the other with the loss of her home and family. Roberta drinks wine, Nikki smokes weed; they each have their little helpers-but can anything really help them achieve peace? Picture a mid-'90s, suburban New York office full of saleswomen, each successful, attractive, and competitive in her own way. Add boyfriends and sex, booze and drugs…and a spat between two of the women that soon becomes a knock-down, drag-out war. Welcome to Catherine Hiller's latest, a light, lively romp of a read that will have you turning pages faster than you can say flip phone or World Wide Web.-Cathi Hanauer, New York Times bestselling author of Gone and The Bitch is Back Roberta and Nikki begin as office friends, but the relationship soon curdles, turning the two into rivals and finally bitter enemies. Shrewd-eyed, sharp and stylish, The Feud exposes the dark secrets of women in the workplace with assurance, intelligence and wit.-Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The House on Primrose Pond and fiction editor, Lilith Catherine Hiller weaves a story of intrigue and revenge and shows us how women can cause each other piercing pain when they attack from behind. The Feud delivers emotional intensity and a realistic portrayal of the darkest side of female relationships.-Kathi Elster, Co-Author of Mean Girls at Work and Working With You Is Killing Me Catherine Hiller takes on an ancient theme-the feud between women-with humor, grace and verve.-Roxana Robinson, author of Cost and Sparta and former Authors Guild President

Michael Donahue has it all: a satisfying career as a physical therapist and a loving wife (his college sweetheart) who is pregnant with their first child. In less than a minute, all collapses when she dies in a car accident with him at the wheel. Overwhelmed by grief and depression, Michael barely makes it through his workday and considers suicide. One day, however, he inadvertently discovers a hidden talent for running and finds solace on the roads. A new community buoys him as he trains to compete in the New York City Marathon. As he becomes an elite runner, Michael awakens to the possibilities of his life. Competitive runners are driven by ambition, dedication, and a determination to test the body's physical limits. But for some, running also offers hope. Mark Thompson's novel skillfully combines the excitement of competition with the personal journey of a man who discovers not only that he is a gifted runner, but that running offers him solace in the face of overwhelming grief. Whether you are a recreational runner or serious competitor, this affecting novel will remind you just how much this simple sport has to offer to your body and your spirit. -Charles R. Scott, Author of Rising Son and Daunted Courage

In 1950, Glynne, 26, comes to Paris with her husband, Joe, and her three-year-old daughter, Cathy, so they can all learn French and study in Paris. But after a year, Glynne leaves Joe. She doesn't love him (she asks herself if she's ever been in love) and she seeks a more liberated life. Saucy and beautiful, Glynne charms one man after another, including the movie star Jean Gabin. Then she meets Maurice and learns that she can indeed fall in love.

In this gritty "Memoir Noir," Royal Young reexamines his turbulent childhood and adolescence in New York City of the 1990s. Grappling with issues of sexuality, addiction, and self-definition, he doggedly pursues every possible path to stardom, only to find himself mired in mangled relationships. His story is an unapologetic and ultimately profound, poignant commentary on celebrity culture and love in all its forms."Royal Young has accomplished a rare feat in his fresh and riveting debut: he manages to recount his fascinating youth and unconventional family with a mixture of humor, scathing honesty & tenderness. Much more than simply a book about a kid who dreams of stardom, Fame Shark is a thoughtful, hilarious and moving love letter to his family and the Lower East Side of New York City." -Kristen Johnston, Emmy Award-winning actress and New York Times bestselling author of Guts"Royal Young stands out as heir apparent to ... literary Jews from early Philip Roth to any-time Jonathan Ames ... Some books you like, some you enjoy, some you feel the need to command the air waves and scream to the masses that they either have to read immediately, or live artistically stunted lives ... "- Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight"Royal Young's memoir is about a dreamer, set in the post-apocalyptic celebrity world of today, and Young, who grew up in New York-like Holden Caulfield if he wanted to be famous-is looking for adventure and action and becomes entangled in all sorts of romantic and sordid relationships. He points out the perplexing tragedy (and good fortune, I think) of what it means to be talented and rebellious, but not a celebrity."-Lily Koppel, bestselling author of The Astronaut Wives Club and The Red Leather Diary"Courageously confessional ... Royal Young's searing emotions burst through the page. At times I read Fame Shark through tears."- Jaime Lubin, The Huffington Post"Fame Shark is American Psycho meets Call It Sleep. A no-holds -barred saga of the extremes a human being can go to in his or her quest for attention. Young has the precocity and audacity of Shelley and the fearlessness of Philippe Petit."-Francis Levy, author of Erotomania: A Romance and Seven Days in Rio"Shameless, elegant, obscene."-Leopoldine Core, Poet and Center for Fiction Fellow"Fame Shark chronicles the hip and hilarious adventures of a neurotic, broke New York bookworm named Hazak who's trying to escape his name, his history, his shrink parents and his Jewish guilt. Not easy when he's surrounded by his father's penis paintings, rich and famous friends and the ambitious heartbreaking city itself."-Susan Shapiro, author of Speed Shrinking and Five Men Who Broke My Heart"Fast, funny, and sometimes a squirmingly uncomfortable ... Young's unflinching memoir adds much to the dialogue about America's quest for adulation, or at least some shiny, sparkling lights." -Whit Hill, author of Not About Madonna: My Little Pre- Icon Roommate and Other Memoirs

What's a song? Every bird has a note-the Canary has C, The Duck has D, The Eagle has E. But what are they to do when the Birdwatcher wants to hear a song,and not just one note over and over? This first book in the How Do You Do MusicTM series introduces notes on the treble clef, as they are sung by the birds. This is the first book in the HOW DO YOU DO MUSIC(TM) series of picture books, designed by educator Leah Wells, that easily and whismsically acquaint readers with elements of music.