Nell Zink

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2015 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A sharply observed, mordantly funny, and startlingly original novel from an exciting, unconventional new voice—the author of the acclaimed The Wallcreeper—about the making and unmaking of the American family that lays bare all of our assumptions about race and racism, sexuality and desire. Stillwater College in Virginia, 1966. Freshman Peggy, an ingénue with literary pretensions, falls under the spell of Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, and they begin an ill-advised affair that results in an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. The two are mismatched from the start—she’s a lesbian, he’s gay—but it takes a decade of emotional erosion before Peggy runs off with their three-year-old daughter, leaving their nine-year-old son behind. Worried that Lee will have her committed for her erratic behavior, Peggy goes underground, adopting an African American persona for her and her daughter. They squat in a house in an African-American settlement, eventually moving to a housing project where no one questions their true racial identities. As Peggy and Lee’s children grow up, they must contend with diverse emotional issues: Byrdie deals with his father’s compulsive honesty; while Karen struggles with her mother’s lies—she knows neither her real age, nor that she is “white,” nor that she has any other family. Years later, a minority scholarship lands Karen at the University of Virginia, where Byrdie is in his senior year. Eventually the long lost siblings will meet, setting off a series of misunderstandings and culminating in a comedic finale worthy of Shakespeare.

A Novel

Mislaid

Chronicles Tiffany's experiences as she follows her husband Stephen, whom she has known for three weeks, to Europe, where their marriage disintegrates into one of convenience.

The Wallcreeper

Named a Best Book of the Year by: The New York Times * New York Magazine * Lit Hub * TIME * O, the Oprah Magazine * Good Housekeeping Two generations of an American family come of age—one before 9/11, one after—in this moving and original novel from the “intellectually restless, uniquely funny” (New York Times Book Review) mind of Nell Zink Pam, Daniel, and Joe might be the worst punk band on the Lower East Side. Struggling to scrape together enough cash and musical talent to make it, they are waylaid by surprising arrivals—a daughter for Pam and Daniel, a solo hit single for Joe. As the ‘90s wane, the three friends share in one another’s successes, working together to elevate Joe’s superstardom and raise baby Flora. On September 11, 2001, the city’s unfathomable devastation coincides with a shattering personal loss for the trio. In the aftermath, Flora comes of age, navigating a charged political landscape and discovering a love of the natural world. Joining the ranks of those fighting for ecological conservation, Flora works to bridge the wide gap between powerful strategists and ordinary Americans, becoming entangled ever more intimately with her fellow activists along the way. And when the country faces an astonishing new threat, Flora’s family will have no choice but to look to the past—both to examine wounds that have never healed, and to rediscover strengths they have long forgotten. At once an elegiac takedown of today’s political climate and a touching invocation of humanity’s goodness, Doxology offers daring revelations about America’s past and possible future that could only come from Nell Zink, one of the sharpest novelists of our time.

Doxology

"AVALON follows Bran, a high school graduate in California who is raised by her 'common-law-stepfather' in a rowdy home following her mother's death. After graduating from high school, Bran stays in town and is introduced to Peter, a college student who is engaged, and the two begin an intense relationship revolving around philosophy, literature, and their attraction for one another. Encouraged by Peter, Bran begins writing scripts for their friend, Jay, who studies film at UCLA, and though her work is lauded, she doesn't receive the credit or acclaim she deserves, culminating in a confrontation at an LA party with Peter"--

Avalon

The superb new novel from the much acclaimed author of MISLAID and THE WALLCREEPER Recent business school graduate Penny Baker has rebelled against her family her whole life-by being the conventional one. Her mother, Amalia, was a member of a South American tribe called the Kogi; her much older father, Norm, long ago attained cult-like deity status among a certain cohort of ageing hippies while operating a psychedelic 'healing centre.' And she's never felt particularly close to her much older half-brothers from Norm's previous marriage-one wickedly charming and obscenely rich (but mostly just wicked), one a photographer on a distant tropical island.But all that changes when her father dies, and Penny inherits his childhood home in New Jersey. She goes to investigate the property and finds it not overgrown and abandoned, but rather occupied by a group of friendly anarchist squatters whom she finds unexpectedly charming, and who have renamed the property "Nicotine." The Nicotine residents (united in defence of smokers' rights) possess the type of passion and fervour Penny feels she's desperately lacking, and the other squatter houses in the neighbourhood provide a sense of community she has never felt before. She soon moves into a nearby residence, becoming enmeshed in the political fervour and commitment of her fellow squatters.As the Baker family's lives begin to converge around the fate of the house now called Nicotine, Penny grows ever bolder and more desperate to protect it-and its residents-until a fateful night when a reckless confrontation between her old family and her new one changes everything.Nell Zink exquisitely captures the clash between Baby-Boomer idealism and Millennial pragmatism, between the have-nots and want-mores, in a riotous yet tender novel that brilliantly encapsulates our time.

Nicotine

The “wonderfully talented” (Dwight Garner, New York Times) author of Mislaid returns with a “heady, witty” (Booklist) novel of obsession, idealism, and ownership, centered around a young woman who inherits her bohemian father's childhood home. Recent business school graduate Penny Baker has rebelled against her family her whole life—by being the conventional one. Her mother, Amalia, was a member of an Amazonian tribe called the Kogi; her much older father, Norm, long ago attained cult-like deity status among a certain group of aging hippies while operating a ‘healing center’ in New Jersey. And she’s never felt particularly close to her much-older half-brothers from Norm’s previous marriage-one wickedly charming and obscenely rich (but mostly just wicked), one a photographer on a distant tropical island. But all that changes when her father dies, and Penny inherits his childhood home in New Jersey. She goes to investigate the property and finds it occupied by a group of friendly and charming anarchist squatters who have renamed the property Nicotine House. The residents of Nicotine House (defenders of smokers’ rights) possess the type of passion and fervor Penny feels she’s desperately lacking, and the other squatter houses in the neighborhood provide a sense of community she’s never felt before. Penny soon moves into a nearby residence, becoming enmeshed in the political fervor and commitment of her fellow squatters. As the Baker family’s lives begin to converge around the fate of the Nicotine House, Penny grows ever bolder and more desperate to protect it-and its residents-until a fateful night when a reckless confrontation between her old family and her new one changes everything.

From the brilliant and incisive author of Mislaid—"a writer of extraordinary talent and range" (Jonathan Franzen) whose "capacity for inventions is immense" (BookForum)—comes a new collection of her earliest work: two wildly funny novellas (Sailing Towards the Sunset by Avner Shats and European Story for Avner Shats) available in one compact volume. Years ago, Nell Zink resolved to write a book for her friend, the Israeli novelist Avner Shats, that would mirror his remarkable style. Unable to read his Hebrew, she was forced to start from scratch. Now, this tongue-in-cheek homage is available to Nell’s growing readership for the first time, accompanied by a second dazzling and imaginative work that breathes—at Shats’s request—the perfumed air of the Old Europe and stars a figure very much like Shats. Sailing Towards the Sunset by Avner Shats is Zink’s faux-translation of Shats’s 1998 novel Lashut El Hashkia ("Sailing Towards the Sunset"). It flows with a narrative spin only the singular Zink could pull off—including both authentic and fictional versions of characters from Shats’s life and work such as the author herself. A fast-moving portrait of expat artists, authors, and academics on fellowships at the Villa Romana in Florence, European Story for Avner Shats centers on a trio of three indelible characters: an Israeli writer vaguely reminiscent of Shats, a German specialist in ancient lint, and a beautiful and fraudulent Russian performance artist. Demonstrating the hallmarks of Zink’s unique talent, Private Novelist is an intimate look into this acclaimed novelist’s early work that will please her coterie of admirers and further burnish her lustrous reputation.

Fiction

Private Novelist

The conventional one in a non-conventional family, Penny Baker inherits her father's childhood home in New Jersey. She finds the property not overgrown and abandoned, but occupied by a group of friendly anarchist squatters whom she finds unexpectedly charming, and who have renamed the property Nicotine House. The residents are defenders of smokers' rights, and they possess the type of passion and fervor Penny feels she's desperately lacking. As her family's lives begin to converge around the fate of the Nicotine House, a reckless confrontation between her old family and her new one changes everything.

Startlingly radical, dazzlingly witty, unlike anything that has come before âe" this is the most exciting novel you will read this year. âe~Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.âe(tm) Jonathan Franzen Virginia, 1966. The motionless deeps of the lake outside Stillwater College are being ruffled. Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, is determinedly fondling Peggy, an ingÃ©nue freshman with literary pretensions, in his canoe. So begins a long affair but the two are mismatched from the start. The story that follows rocks the boat in every sense. Nell Zinkâe(tm)s hugely entertaining, totally unique Mislaid explodes the nuclear family and topples every foundation of identity âe" black and white, gay and straight, âeoenormalâe and very very strangeâe¦

‘Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.’ Jonathan Franzen Startlingly radical, dazzlingly witty, unlike anything that has come before – these are the two most exciting novels published this year.

Mislaid & The Wallcreeper: The Nell Zink Collection

Pam, Daniel und Joe sind die wahrscheinlich schlechteste Punk-Band auf der Lower East Side. Doch dann widerfahren ihnen zwei Wunder - eine Tochter für Pam und Daniel, eine überraschende Hit-Single für Joe. Zusammen kämpfen sich die drei durch die ausgehenden Neunziger, teilen sich ihre wachsenden Erfolge, arbeiten zusammen, um Joe zum Superstar zu machen und der kleinen Flora eine glückliche Kindheit zu bescheren. Doch am 11. September 2001 fällt der terroristische Angriff auf die Stadt mit einem vernichtenden persönlichen Verlust für das Trio zusammen. Danach wächst Flora in einer stark veränderten, zunehmend gespannten politischen Großwetterlage heran. Sie beginnt sich für Umweltthemen zu engagieren und die sich weitende Kluft zwischen der politischen Klasse und dem einfachen Bürger zu überbrücken. Doch als das junge Jahrhundert mit der Kandidatur von Donald Trump eine weitere neue Bedrohung erfährt, sieht sich ihre Familie gezwungen, längst verloren geglaubte Kräfte zu mobilisieren. "Das Hohe Lied" ist zugleich ein epischer, drei Generationen umspannender Familienroman, ein schonungsloses Gesellschaftsporträt der USA heute und, vor allem anderen, eine anrührende Beschwörung dessen, was im Menschen gut ist und ihn im Leben vorantreibt. Das Buch der Stunde, von einer der scharfsinnigsten US-Autorinnen der Gegenwart.

Das Hohe Lied

‘Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.’ Jonathan Franzen

Für Bran Thomas ist Avalon ein paradiesischer kleiner Hafenort auf Santa Catalina Island, vor der Küste Kaliforniens. Sie war dort nur einmal, mit ihrer Mutter, als diese noch lebte. Seit deren Tod wächst Bran bei einer Stieffamilie auf, die eine Pflanzengärtnerei betreibt. Brutalität und Ausbeutung hilflos ausgesetzt, haust sie in einem Schuppen und schuftet für Kost und Logis. Aber sie ist klug, schafft die Highschool – nur fehlt ihr eine Perspektive. Sie kampiert in ihrem zusammenbrechenden Auto, jobbt im Coffeeshop und anderswo und hält per Handy Kontakt zu ihren ehemaligen Mitschülern, die alle an der Uni sind. Eines Tages schleppt ein Schulfreund Peter an, einen gut aussehenden intellektuellen Überflieger von der Ostküste, der pausenlos Kapitalismuskritik absondert. Bran sieht ihn und verliebt sich unsterblich. Das Problem: Er interessiert sich zwar auch sofort für sie, aber er ist mit einer bruneiischen Prinzessin verlobt und, Kapitalismuskritik hin oder her, konservativ. Nur mit Brans proletarischer Resilienz hat er nicht gerechnet ...

Virginia

'A gorgeous love story and a hilarious political novel about precarity and abuse in the era of late capitalism.' Neel Mukherjee, author of Man Booker Prize-shortlisted The Lives of Others 'Zink's confidence and authority as a writer are evident from Avalon's killer first sentences.' LA Times Bran's Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother abandons her and joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her 'common-law stepfather' on Bourdon Farms - a plant nursery that doubles as a cover for a biker gang. She spends her days tending plants, slogging through high school and imagining what life could be if she had been born to a different family. Then she meets Peter-a charming, troubled college student from the East Coast - who launches his teaching career by initiating her into the world of art. The two begin a seemingly doomed long-distance relationship as Bran searches for meaning in her own surroundings. She knows how to survive, but now she must learn how to live. 'Zink is a comic writer par excellence.' New Yorker 'An extraordinary talent.' Daily Telegraph

Named a Best Book of the Year by: The New York Times * New York Magazine * Lit Hub * TIME * O, the Oprah Magazine * Good Housekeeping Two generations of an American family come of age--one before 9/11, one after--in this moving and original novel from the "intellectually restless, uniquely funny" (New York Times Book Review) mind of Nell Zink Pam, Daniel, and Joe might be the worst punk band on the Lower East Side. Struggling to scrape together enough cash and musical talent to make it, they are waylaid by surprising arrivals--a daughter for Pam and Daniel, a solo hit single for Joe. As the '90s wane, the three friends share in one another's successes, working together to elevate Joe's superstardom and raise baby Flora. On September 11, 2001, the city's unfathomable devastation coincides with a shattering personal loss for the trio. In the aftermath, Flora comes of age, navigating a charged political landscape and discovering a love of the natural world. Joining the ranks of those fighting for ecological conservation, Flora works to bridge the wide gap between powerful strategists and ordinary Americans, becoming entangled ever more intimately with her fellow activists along the way. And when the country faces an astonishing new threat, Flora's family will have no choice but to look to the past--both to examine wounds that have never healed, and to rediscover strengths they have long forgotten. At once an elegiac takedown of today's political climate and a touching invocation of humanity's goodness, Doxology offers daring revelations about America's past and possible future that could only come from Nell Zink, one of the sharpest novelists of our time.

A profound and singular story about a young woman searching for her place in the world, from one of America’s most original voices—the irresistible story of one teenager’s reckoning with society at large and her search for a personal utopia. Bran’s Southern California upbringing is anything but traditional. After her mother joins a Buddhist colony, Bran is raised by her “common-law stepfather” on Bourdon Farms—a plant nursery that doubles as a cover for a biker gang. She spends her days tending plants, slogging through high school, and imagining what life could be if she had been born to a different family. And then she meets Peter, a beautiful, troubled, and charming train wreck of a college student from the East Coast, who launches his teaching career by initiating her into the world of literature and aesthetics. As the two begin a volatile and ostensibly doomed long-distance relationship, Bran searches for meaning in her own surroundings—attending disastrous dance recitals, house-sitting for strangers, and writing scripts for student films. She knows how to survive, but her happiness depends on learning to call the shots. Exceedingly rich, ecstatically dark, and delivered with masterful humor, Avalon is a poignant portrait of a young woman who, against all odds, is determined to find her place in the world and find clarity in its remote corners.

A novel

'Nell Zink is a writer of extraordinary talent and range. Her work insistently raises the possibility that the world is larger and stranger than the world you think you know.' Jonathan Franzen Startlingly radical, dazzlingly witty, unlike anything that has come before - a box set containing the two most exciting novels published this year. MISLAIDVirginia, 1966. The motionless deeps of the lake outside Stillwater College are being ruffled. Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, is determinedly fondling Peggy, an ingénue freshman with literary pretensions, in his canoe. So begins a long affair but the two are mismatched from the start.The story that follows rocks the boat in every sense. Nell Zink's hugely entertaining, totally unique Mislaid explodes the nuclear family and topples every foundation of identity - black and white, gay and straight, “normal” and very very strange…THE WALLCREEPERInterlaken, Berne, 21st century. Several things happen after the car hits the rock. Tiff ceases to be pregnant. Stephen captures, like, the most wonderful bird - fleet, stealthy, and beautiful - a real “lifer”. And the wallcreeper, the wallcreeper says “twee”.The Wallcreeper is nothing more than a portrait of marriage, complete with all its requisite highs and lows: drugs, dubstep, small chores, anal sex, eco-terrorism, birding, breeding and feeding.

Nell Zink

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