Description

‘This is a novel that will pull you in and under and carry you away on its rip tides . . . Its resonances continue to wash over the reader long after the novel ends’ the Guardian

‘2017’s Most Anticipated Book . . . it will suck you into its orbit and remind you just why it is you love reading’ Stylist magazine

‘This is a novel that deserves to join the canon of New York stories’ New York Times Book Review

The long-awaited novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad, Manhattan Beach opens in Brooklyn during the Great Depression.

‘We’re going to see the sea,’ Anna whispered.

Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to the house of a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. Anna observes the uniformed servants, the lavishing of toys on the children, and some secret pact between her father and Dexter Styles.

Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that had always belonged to men. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. She is the sole provider for her mother, a farm girl who had a brief and glamorous career as a Ziegfield folly, and her lovely, severely disabled sister. At a night club, she chances to meet Styles, the man she visited with her father before he vanished, and she begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have been murdered.

Mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful, with the pace and atmosphere of a noir thriller and a wealth of detail about organized crime, the merchant marine and the clash of classes in New York, Egan’s first historical novel is a masterpiece, a deft, startling, intimate exploration of a transformative moment in the lives of women and men, America and the world. Manhattan Beach is a magnificent novel by one of the greatest writers of our time.

‘Beautifully rendered . . . genuinely affecting and handsomely constructed. It moves for all the right reasons’ Independent

‘A gripping, modern version of a 19th century novel . . . such an absorbing read’ Evening Standard

Publisher Review

Manhattan Beachis a fleet, sinuous epic, abounding with evocative details, felicitous metaphors, and crystalline historical assessments... [and] magnificently captures this country on the brink of triumph and triumphalism * Bookforum * This large, ambitious novel shows Egan at the top of her game. Anna is a true feminist heroine, and her grit and tenacity will make readers root for her * Library Journal, STARRED review * After stretching the boundaries of fiction in myriad ways, Pulitzer Prize winner Egan does perhaps the only thing left that could surprise: she writes a thoroughly traditional novel. It shouldn't really be surprising, since even Egan's most experimental work has been rich in characters and firmly grounded in sharp observation of the society around them. Here, she brings those qualities to a portrait of New York City during the Depression and World War II... haunting ... Realistically detailed, poetically charged, and utterly satisfying: apparently there's nothing Egan can't do. * Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review * Exquisitely wrought * Entertainment Weekly * Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan makes her maiden deep dive into historical fiction with the vivid Manhattan Beach. * Vanity Fair * While it's obvious that Egan meticulously researched the era's history, the novel's crooked politicians, organized-crime bosses, and shady cops make it read like a fast-paced, hard-boiled drama * Marie Claire * Splendid . . . Tremendously assured and rich, moving from depictions of violence and crime to deep tenderness. The book's emotional power once again demonstrates Egan's extraordinary gifts. * Publishers Weekly, starred review * Egan's first foray into historical fiction makes you forget you're reading historical fiction at all. * Elle magazine US * A bounteous miracle that makes you feel that old time, and our time, differently; everything becomes freshly energized, infused with humanity, vital, sad, and full of importance. To see the world through Egan's eyes is to be moved, through language, to new adoration of the world. I don't know a better writer working today. There is a generosity in her prose that is vastly enlivening to its reader and brings about that beautiful effect fiction sometimes causes: more, and better-grounded, fondness for reality, just as it is. * George Saunders, bestselling author of Tenth of December and Lincoln in the Bardo * Egan's descriptive writing is superlative . . . She creates intelligently drawn characters, sensitively explores their inner worlds and takes care to use her historical research wisely.' * Sunday Times * One of the most dazzling novelists writing today . . . It is simply stunning; thrilling, heartbreaking and unputdownable. Book of the Month. * Bookseller * Believe the hype * Evening Standard magazine *