The Californians: A Novel

(Hardback)

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For fans ofTrustandNorth Woods,adaring novel that spans 100 years of American history, from the early days of cinema to the rise of NFTs, about parents and children, the drive to create even in times of crisis, and the inheritance of grand western dreams.

Its 2024, and Tobey Harlancollege dropout, temporary waiter, recently dumpedstealsfrom the wall of his fathers housethree paintings by the venerated and controversial artist Di Stiegl.Tobeys just lost everything he owns to a Northern California wildfire, and if he can sell the paintings (albeit in a shady way to a notorious tech bro) he can start life anew in a place no one will ever find him, perhaps even Oregon.

A hundred years before, Klaus AaronsohnGerman-Jewish immigrant, resident of the Lower East Sideinveigles his way into a film studio in Astoria, Queens. In love with silent cinema, Klaus will restyle himself Klaus von Stiegl, a mysterious aristocratic German film director. In true Hollywood fashion, he will court fame, fortune, romance, and betrayal, and end his career directing Brackett: a radical, notorious 60s-era detective show.

Weaving between Tobey and Klaus is the story of Diane Di Stiegl: Klauss granddaughter, raised in Palm Springs, who claws out a career as an artist in gritty 1980s NYC. As America yields the presidency to a Hollywood cowboy, as Dianes grifter father and free-spirited mother circle in and out of her life, Diane will reflect Americas most urgent and hypocritical years back to itself, uneasily finding critical adoration as well as great fame and wealth.

A dazzling novelfor readers ofBeautiful Ruinsby Jess Walter andThe Candy Houseby Jennifer Egan,TheCaliforniansis an ambitious and sweeping journey across a century.Nuanced and textured, gloriously funny, a critical portrait of the collective American consciousness that has brought us to today, it showcases Brian Castleberry as an inventive, stylish storyteller and a sharp observer of the human condition.

Reviews

"Immersive, expansive, century-spanning, and deeply felt, Brian Castleberry's The Californians takes you on a ride through three generations of artists, capitalists, patsies, dreamers, cheats -- Californians. It's a book that entertains and excites, a story of movies, of yearning, of how and why we make art, of how and why money both propels and traps, seduces and destroys. A story of failures and legacies passed down. A total pleasure of a book." Lynn Steger Strong, author of Flight "Its hard to write something totally new, but Brian Castleberry has managed it. The Californians is a story within a story within a story--set across three distinct time periods and featuring an incredible cast of interconnected characters who are all trying to figure out how to make art and money and not let the making of one consume the other. Somehow Castleberry manages the spectacular feat of writing a novel that can be read forwards, backwards and sideways, and the result is a book Ill be thinking about for years to come." Rachel Beanland, author of Florence Adler Swims Forever and The House is on Fire "Discovering the nature of the characters associations and intersections across the chapters is one of the richest pleasures of the book. Another pleasure: the detailed portraits of 20th-century American life. Each chapter is a neatly packed and well-researched time capsule,...the close-clinging omniscient narration nimbly taking on the voices of each decade." New York Times Book Review on Nine Shiny Objects "Marked by literary ambition. ... This is a story about how our individual histories follow us, about light versus dark, but also about our clouded perception of Americaand how it continues to divide us." Elle on Nine Shiny Objects "The truly shining objects are the nine stories that make up this gripping, shapeshifting novel. A debut out of this world." Hernan Diaz, author ofIn the Distance, on Nine Shiny Objects Sharply tuned, funny, satisfyingly strange, and preternaturally poised, unspooling in immaculate prose. Brian Castleberry has that rare, cant-be-taught ability to turn smoothly at any point in any direction, giving each sentence, no matter how casual, a quiet current of electric suspense. William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prizewinning author ofBarbarian Days, on Nine Shiny Objects Impressive... Memorable characters inhabit a surprising, engaging story of American idealism and its dark opposite. Kirkus Reviews on Nine Shiny Objects

Author Bio

Brian Castleberry's stories have been published in The Southern Review, Day One, Narrative, and other literary journals. He lives in Virginia, where he teaches literature and creative writing at the College of William & Mary.