Molly Prentiss

“In one sentence, Ms. Prentiss captures a sense of intoxication and possibility that six seasons of voice-overs from Sarah Jessica Parker never could…Ms. Prentiss concludes her novel on a note that’s both ethereal and brutally realistic. She cauterizes wounds, but they’re still visible and bare. But for her characters—for this promising author—it’s enough.” —The New York Times “An intoxicating Manhattan fairy tale…As affecting as it is absorbing. A thrilling debut.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A vital, sensuous, edgy, and suspenseful tale of longing, rage, fear, compulsion, and love.” —Booklist (starred review) An intoxicating and transcendent debut novel that follows a critic, an artist, and a desirous, determined young woman as they find their way—and ultimately collide—amid the ever-evolving New York City art scene of the 1980s. Welcome to SoHo at the onset of the eighties: a gritty, not-yet-gentrified playground for artists and writers looking to make it in the big city. Among them: James Bennett, a synesthetic art critic for The New York Times whose unlikely condition enables him to describe art in profound, magical ways, and Raul Engales, an exiled Argentinian painter running from his past and the Dirty War that has enveloped his country. As the two men ascend in the downtown arts scene, dual tragedies strike, and each is faced with a loss that acutely affects his relationship to life and to art. It is not until they are inadvertently brought together by Lucy Olliason—a small town beauty and Raul’s muse—and a young orphan boy sent mysteriously from Buenos Aires, that James and Raul are able to rediscover some semblance of what they’ve lost. As inventive as Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad and as sweeping as Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings, Tuesday Nights in 1980 boldly renders a complex moment when the meaning and nature of art is being all but upended, and New York City as a whole is reinventing itself. In risk-taking prose that is as powerful as it is playful, Molly Prentiss deftly explores the need for beauty, community, creation, and love in an ever-changing urban landscape.

Tuesday Nights in 1980

"Emily writes for women's catalogs for a living, but she'd rather be writing books. She has a handsome photographer boyfriend, but she actively wonders how and when they will eventually hurt each other. Her best work friend Megan is her lifeline, until Megan is abruptly laid off. When her world is further upended by an unplanned pregnancy, Emily is forced to make tough decisions that will change her life forever. What will she sacrifice from her old life to make room for a new one? What fires will she be forced to extinguish, and which will keep burning? Old Flame is a story about the essential--and often existential--choices that define a woman's life at every level, from which dress to wear to when to have a child to how to be in the world"--

Old Flame

Tuesday Nights In 1980

A knock-out literary debut about three lives colliding in 1980s downtown New York. Raul is an Argentinian painter, fresh on New York's buzzing downtown scene, who has just caught the eye of the city's most infamous critic. James is the critic. His synaesthesia lets him interpret art as fireworks and symphonies - but he's just been struck by writer's block. And then there's Lucy: newly escaped from small-town Idaho, young and beautiful, she will become first Raul's lover and then James's. This electrifying debut captures the raw energy and spontaneity of the 1980s downtown scene - it is a celebration of the power of art, a love letter to New York and an intimate portrait of the strangers who embody the city's spirit.

“An intoxicating Manhattan fairy tale…As affecting as it is absorbing. A thrilling debut.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A vital, sensuous, edgy, and suspenseful tale of longing, rage, fear, compulsion, and love.” —Booklist (starred review) A transcendent debut novel that follows a critic, an artist, and a desirous, determined young woman as they find their way—and ultimately collide—amid the ever-evolving New York City art scene of the 1980s. Welcome to SoHo at the onset of the eighties: a gritty, not-yet-gentrified playground for artists and writers looking to make it in the big city. Among them: James Bennett, a synesthetic art critic for the New York Times whose unlikely condition enables him to describe art in profound, magical ways, and Raul Engales, an exiled Argentinian painter running from his past and the Dirty War that has enveloped his country. As the two men ascend in the downtown arts scene, dual tragedies strike, and each is faced with a loss that acutely affects his relationship to life and to art. It is not until they are inadvertently brought together by Lucy Olliason—a small town beauty and Raul’s muse—and a young orphan boy sent mysteriously from Buenos Aires, that James and Raul are able to rediscover some semblance of what they’ve lost. As inventive as Jennifer Egan's A Visit From The Goon Squad and as sweeping as Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings, Tuesday Nights in 1980 boldly renders a complex moment when the meaning and nature of art is being all but upended, and New York City as a whole is reinventing itself. In risk-taking prose that is as powerful as it is playful, Molly Prentiss deftly explores the need for beauty, community, creation, and love in an ever-changing urban landscape.

Au début des années 80, le downtown de New York est le centre de l’univers, un terrain de jeu revêche, encore hermétique à la menace de l’embourgeoisement. Artistes et écrivains s’y mêlent dans des squats insalubres où leurs rêves de reconnaissance prennent des formes multiples. Parmi eux, Raul Engales, un peintre argentin en exil, fuyant son passé et la « guerre sale » qui a enflammé son pays. S’affamant pour payer son matériel, il peint le jour d’immenses toiles mettant en scène les spectres qu’il croise la nuit. Un soir, il attire l’attention de James Bennett, critique d’art en vogue du New York Times, proche de Basquiat, Warhol et Keith Haring. Tandis que l’ascension fulgurante de l’un entraîne l’autre sous les projecteurs, une double tragédie les frappe. Dans ce chaos, Lucy, l’amante enjouée de Raul, échappée d’une obscure banlieue de l’Idaho, tente de les extraire de leur détresse. Entre peintre, critique et muse se dessine alors un triptyque amoureux étourdissant. Avec une écriture inventive d’une grande force poétique, Molly Prentiss explore la nécessité de beauté, de partage, de création et d’amour dans un paysage urbain et mouvant. « Un défi impertinent : écrire une lettre d’amour polychrome à un Manhattan qui n’est plus. Aussi prodigieux qu’exaltant. » The New York Times « Prentiss invente une merveilleuse manière d’imposer une élégance florissante à ses personnages. » The Guardian « Un enivrant conte de fée. Touchant et captivant. » Kirkus

New York esquisses nocturnes

Welkom in het New York van de jaren tachtig: een gruizige speelplaats voor ambitieuze kunstenaars, fanatieke verzamelaars en eerzuchtige critici. De stad bruist en tintelt, in galeries worden recordprijzen betaald en het is alle nachten feest. James Bennett, een bekende recensent, ontdekt het ene talent na het andere. Raúl Engales bijvoorbeeld, een veelbelovende jonge schilder, die op de vlucht is voor de militaire dictatuur in Argentinië en zich vol overgave in de artscene stort. En dan is er Engales’ muze Lucy, die de boerderij van haar ouders heeft verlaten om op Manhattan iets bijzonders mee te maken, al weet ze nog niet precies wat. Binnen de loop van een jaar zullen de levens van deze drie mensen dramatisch veranderen, als het lot hen dwingt hun relatie tot elkaar en de kunst opnieuw te definiëren.

Molly Prentiss

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