Shelter in Place

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

'Very funny and unexpected, a material response to our times, plush as velvet' Rachel Cusk 'A wickedly funny and emotionally expansive novel' Jenny Offill It is the Saturday after the 2016 presidential election, and in a plush weekend house in Connecticut, a group of New Yorkers has gathered to recover from what they consider the greatest political catastrophe of their lives. Liberal and like-minded, the friends have come to the countryside in the hope of restoring the bubble in which they have grown used to living. Moving through her days accompanied by a carefully curated salon, Eva Lindquist is a generous hostess with an obsession for decorating. Yet when, in her avidity to secure shelter for herself, she persuades her husband to buy a grand if dilapidated apartment in Venice, she unwittingly sets off the chain of events that will propel him to venture outside the bubble and embark on an unexpected love affair. A slyly comic look at the shelter industry, Shelter in Place is a novel about house and home, safety and freedom and the insidious ways in which political upheaval can undermine even the most seemingly impregnable foundations.

Reviews

There is an art to writing about unlikeable people while still engaging the reader to invest in their indulgence, vanity and, yes, happiness. Leavitt unfurls a droll drawing-room pastiche that evokes la dolce vita as Seinfeld episode Its Aaron Sorkin on steroids. And surprisingly compelling ... Leavitt, cleverly crafting a New Yorker cartoon in words, proves there is still some navel-gazing worth reading. * New York Times Book Review *
An amusing satire ... The joy lies in how gently Leavitt lets air out of the catty micro-climates his characters inhabit, from publishing to interior design -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Mail *
A wickedly funny and emotionally expansive novel about all the bewildering ways we seek solace from the people and things that surround us -- Jenny Offill
Very funny and unexpected, a material response to our times, plush as velvet -- Rachel Cusk
Shelter in Place is a poignant, funny, wonderful novel, a pleasure and a joy -- Donald Antrim
Ive long been a fan of David Leavitts work, for its range, its depth, its smarts and its humour. He is a phenomenal and prescient writer -- Justin Torres
Leavitt is a master stylist ... An important writer. He is the rarest of all birds a man of letters -- Edmund White
David Leavitt is a masterful writer and his dialogue, his innate sense of the rhythm of how people talk to each other, both in public and in private, is absolutely incredible. It's impossible not to be pulled into this novel, to see the epicentre of chaos in the lives of these characters, and listen to them try to talk themselves into a new imagining of the world. With precision and humour, Leavitt has created something amazing -- Kevin Wilson, author of 'Nothing to See Here'

Author Bio

David Leavitts novels and story collections include Family Dancing (finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award), The Lost Language of Cranes, While England Sleeps, Arkansas, The Indian Clerk (finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Prize and the IMPAC/Dublin Literary Award), and The Two Hotel Francforts. He is also the author of two non-fiction books, Florence, A Delicate Case and The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer. He is co-director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Florida, where he is Professor of English and edits the journal Subtropics.