The Garrick Year, novel by Margaret Drabble, Read by Paul Newman

In the photo at right, Paul Newman reads THE GARRICK YEAR, a 1964 novel by British author Margaret Drabble. Written when she was 24, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and married to an actor, THE GARRICK YEAR is an insider’s account of a young woman’s life in the theater.

I don’t know if Newman’s face expresses an “Oh, those Brits” reaction to the book or if he’s just squinting in the sun. (Where are your sunglasses, Paul?) Also don’t know if this shot was taken on a movie set or while Newman was racing one of his cars. (It was probably snapped on the set of the 1967 movie COOL HAND LUKE, since Newman looks as if he’s dressed for a chain gang.)

In 2009, Roger Angell wrote a “Summer Reading” piece in the New Yorker where he discussed his love for THE GARRICK YEAR (he rereads the book each summer) — and why he thinks it’s the prolific Drabble’s most “alive” novel. Read Angell’s article here.

Find THE GARRICK YEAR by Margaret Drabble at Amazon.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Margaret Drabble is the author of 17 novels, including The Sea Lady, The Seven Sisters, The Peppered Moth, and The Needle’s Eye. She has written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson, and is the editor of the fifth and sixth editions of The Oxford Companion to English Literature. For her contributions to contemporary English literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2008.

Feb. 2013 Release: Debt, a novel by Rachel Carey

Silver Birch Press is pleased to announce the February 2013 release of DEBT, a debut novel by Rachel Carey. This book has everything we love in a great read — compelling premise, well-drawn characters, humor, wit, and outstanding writing. It’s a literary page turner (yes, there is such a thing!) that will make you eager for this gifted author’s next book.

Set in New York City, Debt — a satirical look at the 2008 financial meltdown — follows a range of characters who owe something to someone in a variety of ways. From main character Lillian Fitzgerald — a recent grad with an Master’s in Creative Writing in one hand and $100,000 bill for her student loans in the other — to Henry Bolt, the mysterious force who owns the bank that financed Lillian’s student loans, and an assortment of other people up and down the debt chain (bill collectors, stock market mavens, the wealthy, the foreclosed, the bankrupt, the desperate, the spoiled, the gamblers, the winners, and the losers), Debt covers a wide universe without leaving the five boroughs.

I see great things ahead for author Rachel Carey and feel honored that Silver Birch Press has published this gifted writer’s first novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Carey is a writer and filmmaker. She received an MFA in Film Directing from NYU, an M.Ed. from Harvard, and a BA in English from Yale. She currently lives with her family in New Jersey and teaches college film classes. Debt is her first novel.

Find Debt, a novel by Rachel Carey at Amazon.com.

Cover photo by Jeff McCrum

Louise Erdrich Wins 2012 National Book Award for Fiction

Native American author Louise Erdrich — and, in my eyes, one of the greatest novelists of all time — won a well-deserved 2012 National Book Award for Fiction for her novel THE ROUND HOUSE, which has been called the Native American TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

“The novel showcases her [Erdrich’s] extraordinary ability to delineate the ties of love, resentment, need, duty and sympathy that bind families together…[a] powerful novel worth reading.” Michiko Kakutani, New York Times 

While THE ROUND HOUSE is still on my reading list, I have read many of Erdrich’s other novels (she’s written about a dozen), and am in awe of her writing and storytelling. Congratulations, Louise! 

Coming Soon: DEBT, a Novel by Rachel Carey

Silver Birch Press is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of DEBT, a novel by Rachel Carey. This book is The Bonfires of the Vanities 20+ years later — and, in this publishers opinion, just as great a read!

BACK COVER BLURB: Lillian Fitzgerald has gone a hundred thousand dollars into student loan debt for a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. To buy time to salvage her ambitious but depressing thesis novel, she accepts a part-time job doing SAT tutoring for Calvin Bolt, whose father Henry owns Bolt Bank — the company that services her student loans. Lillian soon discovers that dangerous secrets underlie the wealth and power of the Bolt family, secrets that could launch Lillian onto the New York Times bestseller list… if she manages to survive long enough to write about them. In this sharp and fast-paced satire of New York during the 2008 financial meltdown, it turns out that everyone — even all-powerful billionaire Henry Bolt — is in somebody’s debt.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Carey is a writer and filmmaker. She received an MFA in Film Directing from NYU, a M.Ed. from Harvard, and a BA in English from Yale. She currently teaches college film classes — and lives with her husband and daughter in New Jersey. Rachel is still paying back her student loans — and has dedicated her novel to the Sallie Mae Corporation.

Silver Birch Press will publish Debt by Rachel Carey in November 2012.