Hear about her experiences writing her first novel and listen to excerpts from the book. A question and answer period will follow.
Set in Brooklyn’s Russian émigré community of Brighton Beach, VACLAV & LENA is the story of two ten-year-old emigrants from radically different worlds. Orphan Lena is introverted, troubled, and trapped in an unstable domestic situation. Vaclav’s burgeoning love of performing magic is indulged by hardworking parents pursuing the American Dream. In Vaclav’s eyes, Lena – his closest friend since he was five – is destined to become his “faithful magician’s assistant” and someday his wife.
Rasia, Vaclav’s mother, keeps an eye on Lena and hopes to help her find security in their home so that she can blossom, but when Lena does not show up at school one day, Rasia soon discovers that there are things even she cannot change. She must act, and consequently the children are ripped apart only to be reunited years later, when Lena turns to the one friend she can count on to help her fulfill her dreams.
Vivid, universally resonant, and highly original, VACLAV & LENA will establish Haley Tanner as one of our most exciting literary talents.
Books will be available for purchase and signing.
FILM RIGHTS OPTIONED BY THE MAZUR/KAPLAN COMPANY
PUBLISHING RIGHTS SOLD IN TWELVE COUNTRIES:
England, Italy, Israel, Holland, Spain, Brazil, Catalan, Korea, France, China, Germany, Poland
“[M]arvel over first-time novelist Tanner’s exceptional skills in capturing both the outer and inner worlds of her damaged but determined characters in a sleight-of-mind entwinement of a grittily realistic tale of Russian immigrant suffering and a subtly imagined and incisively funny drama
of emotional symbiosis, maternal heroism, and true love. The magic Tanner makes
is as dazzling as it is profound.” —Booklist (STARRED review)
“[A] romantic and moving debut.…[readers will] be more than taken by the one-of-a-kind relationship between two magnificent characters.”—Publishers Weekly
“This debut novel by Brooklynite Tanner about the inarticulateness of young love was preempted at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and rightly so. The author captures the subculture of the Russian émigré subculture in New York with verve and realism but infuses her two leads with such innocence and zeal that they become impossibly charismatic by the story’s end…A terrific, enlightened debut…”
—Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)
“Tanner’s captivating debut novel is a love story of unusual innocence and intensity. Her prose is understated but powerful and also quite funny. A ¬suspenseful, literary work that is hard
to put down…highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“In this charming and wonderfully engaging tale, the reader is swept into the beautifully rendered landscape of the immigrant childhood experience. Tanner has created a world peopled with characters of great poignancy and they will linger in the mind – and heart – long after the book is put down.”
—Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Olive Kitteridge
“Vaclav & Lena is a wonderful achievement, generous, playful, moving, and refreshing. It was the voice that first captivated me here, a voice that allows Haley Tanner to say anything at all, and to say it truly.
Give this novel a few short pages, and I guarantee you’ll want to read it to the end.”
—Kevin Brockmeier, author of The View from the Seventh Layer and The Brief History of the Dead
“There are books you enjoy, and then there are books you live in. Tanner’s assured narrative voice finds new ways to describe emotion and character, bringing the reader up short again and again with small shocks of awareness. This book is sad, funny, true, and shot through with grace.”
—Judy Blundell, National Book Award winning author of What I Saw and How I Lied
This event sponsored by the Rye Free Reading Room.
