The Literati: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

An unexpected catastrophe of literary proportions . . .

Aspirant, bookish, and close to broke, 26-year-old Clemi steps into her dream job at a prestigious literary nonprofit and finds herself in the bull's eye of a financial, legal, and existential calamity. The executive director has disappeared, leaving behind an inscrutable cat to which she is highly allergic. Meanwhile, the bank accounts have been overdrawn, the FBI is asking questions, and she has three days to pull off the annual fundraising gala, a glamorous affair filled with famous writers and local literati.

On the upside, she will get to meet her all-time favorite writer, who has won the award. Clemi has read and reread her novels, pouring over her every word.But her interactions with the author and her eight-year-old son, as well as with the nonprofit's Board Members, leave her wondering whether certain writers are better on the page than in person.

All the while, Clemi is trying to sort out her own life: her current boyfriend is, like every boyfriend before him, a pompous poseur, and the clock is running on her apartment-sitting gig. She finds herself wondering what all the goings-on in this dysfunctional, scandal-plagued nonprofit have to do with literature. And if it's time to let go of her literary aspirations and apply to law school.

In the week in which this madcap story unfolds, USA TODAY bestselling author Susan Coll weaves together a charmingly witty and warm comedy of manners that offers a peek behind the literary curtain--one that anyone who's ever been a little bit uncertain of what the future might hold can relate to.

Reviews

'I have learned to relish every minute I spend in Susan Coll's comic universes, and THE LITERATI is no exception. Featuring a glittering array of characters--from cats to clowns, from divas to embezzlers to Malcolm Gladwell lookalikes--this satire of nonprofit dysfunction is up to the minute, intricately plotted and wickedly funny. Above all, it's delicious.' * Louis Bayard, author of THE WILDES and JACKIE & ME *
'Susan Coll has written a hilarious, raucous, mad-cap comedy full of intrigue and insight. THE LITERATI is a delightful satire of too many of my favorite things: the literary world, non-profits, fundraising and of course celebrity. But through it all, Coll has infused the book with a warm, earnest pulsing heart that refuses cynicism in our protagonist Clemi: someone no reader whose ever started a new and strange job will not relate to and root for. Smart, funny and deliriously charming!' * Xochitl Gonzalez, author of OLGA DIES DREAMING and ANITA DE MONTE LAUGHS LAST *
'With a poet's flair for language, a comedian's knack for timing, and a satirist's gift for skewering the absurd, Susan Coll sends the reader on a riotous adventure with heroine Clemi, who faces numerous crises over the course of a week--including the sudden disappearance of her boss and the equally sudden appearance of the FBI. THE LITERATI is a wickedly smart and funny gem of a novel that I devoured in one sitting. Don't miss it!' * Abbott Kahler, author of WHERE YOU END and EDEN UNDONE *

Author Bio

Susan Coll is the author of seven novels, including Bookish People and Real Life and Other Fictions, a USA TODAY bestseller. Her third novel, Acceptance, was made into a television movie starring the hilarious Joan Cusack. Susans work has appeared in publications including the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, Washingtonian magazine, Moment Magazine, NPR.org, and Atlantic.com. She is the events advisor at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC, and was the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for five years. Visit Susan online at susancoll.com; Instagram: @susan_keselenko_coll; X: @Susan_Coll; Pinterest: @susancollauthor