Tom Barbash – författare

An evocative novel about a New York City family living in the famed Dakota apartment building in the year leading up to John Lennon’s assassination.“Arresting. . . . [A] sad and funny tale. . . . Barbash has sprinkled The Dakota Winters with Beatle dust. Lennon is alive in its pages.” —New York Times Book ReviewIt’s the fall of 1979 in New York City when twenty-three-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the mend from a nasty bout of malaria, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota. Anton’s father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter, is there to greet him, himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long, Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy’s stalled career, a mission that takes him from the gritty streets of New York, to the slopes of the Lake Placid Olympics, to the Hollywood Hills, to the blue waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and brings him into close quarters with the likes of Johnny Carson, Ted and Joan Kennedy, and a seagoing John Lennon.But the more Anton finds himself enmeshed in his father’s professional and spiritual reinvention, the more he questions his own path, and fissures in the Winter family begin to threaten their close bond. By turns hilarious and poignant, The Dakota Winters is a family saga, a page-turning social novel, and a tale of a critical moment in the history of New York City and the country at large.“Deft, funny, touching, and sharply observed, a marvel of tone, and a skillful evocation of a dark passage in the history of New York City, when all the fearful ironies of the world we live in now first came stalking into view.” —Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize–winning author“If you were a fan of TV’s Mad Men—specific to a time and place but universal in its exploration of the themes of identity and human vulnerability—you might very well love this novel as much as I did.” —Wally Lamb, New York Times–bestselling author of I Know This Much Is True

The stories in Tom Barbash''s wondrous and evocative collection explore the myriad ways we try to connect with one another and with the sometimes cruel world around us. The newly single mother in "The Break" interferes in her son''s love life over his Christmas vacation from college. The anxious young man in "Balloon Night" persists in hosting his and his wife''s annual watch-the-Macy''s-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-floats-be-inflated party while trying to keep the myth of his marriage equally afloat. "Somebody''s Son" tells the story of a young man guiltily conning an elderly couple out of their home in the Adirondacks, and the narrator in "The Women" watches his widowed father become the toast of Manhattan''s midlife dating scene, as he struggles to find his own footing in life.The characters in Stay Up with Me find new truths when the old ones have given out or shifted course. In the tradition of classic story writers like John Cheever and Tobias Wolff, Barbash laces his narratives with sharp humor, psychological acuity, and pathos, creating deeply resonant and engaging stories that pierce the heart and linger in the imagination.

A young man’s plan to revitalize his hometown leads four of its inhabitants down alternating paths of desire and deceit in this captivating first novel.“Heady, lyrical—and darkly funny in small offhand moments. It’s a pleasure to read.” —Meg WolitzerWhen the charismatic Jack Lambeau returns to his hometown along Lake Ontario with an eye toward revitalizing its fading post-industrial waterfront into a tasteful commercial development for tourists and yuppies, the town of Lakeland quickly gets on board. At first glance, Jack seems to have it all: a successful urban planner, he’s also brought home his fiancée, Anne, a talented artist with whom he’s fiercely in love. But it doesn’t take long for cracks to appear in Jack’s idyllic lifeEnter Steven Turner—exiled New Yorker, local reporter looking for a scoop, and Jack’s best friend in Lakeland. Between the two of them come Anne, who Steven grows close to, and Jack’s floundering brother Harris, who spends his nights breaking the law to bury the mistakes of the past that might derail Jack’s plans. As Steven’s personal and professional incursion into Jack’s life intensifies, all four characters find themselves starting to unravel.Moving, poignant, and rife with humor, The Last Good Chance is a powerful debut novel about the moral compromises we make in the name of loyalty, ambition, and love. “Buzzing with emotional conflict and humming with worthwhile ideas about our times. . . . Approaches the scope of a work by Richard Russo, John Irving, Walker Percy, or T.C. Boyle.” —Plain Dealer (Cleveland)“An ambitious, deftly plotted, multifariously satisfying piece of genuine American realism.” —Jonathan Franzen“Here is a wonderful book, humorous, poignant, filled with people we either know or have been.” —Elizabeth Strout“Barbash shows himself to be a knowing guide to smalltown politics in a first novel with extraordinary empathic reach. . . . A taut, intricate vision of ambition, corruption and love in the postindustrial era.” —Publishers Weekly

By turns hilarious and poignant, The Dakota Winters is a family drama, a page-turning social novel, and a tale of a critical moment in the history of New York City in the year leading up to John Lennon’s assassination. ‘Conjures a gritty, populous, affectionate portrait of 1979 New York City’ Jennifer Egan, author of Manhattan Beach It’s the fall of 1979 when 23-year-old Anton Winter, back from the Peace Corps and on the mend from a nasty bout of malaria, returns to his childhood home in the Dakota Building in New York City. Anton’s father, the famous late-night host Buddy Winter is there to greet him, himself recovering from a breakdown. Before long Anton is swept up in an effort to reignite Buddy’s stalled career, a mission that takes him from the gritty streets of New York, to the slopes of the Lake Placid Olympics, to the Hollywood Hills, to the blue waters of the Bermuda Triangle, and brings him into close quarters with the likes of Johnny Carson, Ted and Joan Kennedy, and a seagoing John Lennon. But the more Anton finds himself enmeshed in his father’s professional and spiritual reinvention, the more he questions his own path, and fissures in the Winter family begin to threaten their close bond."The first great novel of 2019"? GQ‘Deft, funny, touching, and sharply observed, a marvel of tone, and a skillful evocation of a dark passage in the history of New York City, when all the fearful ironies of the world we live in now first came stalking into view’ Michael Chabon, author of Moonglow'It spins and dazzles. And holds on tenaciously to the human heart.'  Providence Journal 'In Tom Barbash’s The Dakota Winters, you can practically hear Lennon’s signature cackle, feel the tickle of his ponytailed hair, smell the salt air.' The Washington Post‘This is a crazily charming novel … I wanted to begin a new life in these pages, with these characters. I wanted to trade worlds with them. This is a wise and seductive story that feels truer than true, as only the very finest fiction does’ Walter Kirn, author of Up in the Air “Seamlessly mingling historical figures with invented ones, Tom Barbash conjures a gritty, populous, affectionate portrait of 1979 New York City:  the site of his subtly captivating paean to filial love.” (Jennifer Egan, author of Manhattan Beach )? “Excellent…. At its heart, this is a story about family bonds and a pivotal time in New York.” (Rolling Stone)

''Stay Up With Me belongs to the tradition of the classic American story and, like John Cheever, Barbash dramatizes the messy lives of New Yorkers'' Independent on Sunday A newly single mother wrestles with the evidence of her son''s love life during his Christmas vacation; an anxious husband persists in playing the host at his annual drinks party even though his marriage is in trouble and his wife mysteriously absent; a young man watches his widowed father become the toast of Manhattan''s midlife dating scene while he struggles to find his own footing in life . . . The characters in Tom Barbash''s acclaimed, Folio Prize-nominated collection explore the myriad ways we seek to connect with each other and the sometimes cruel world around us. In the classic tradition of John Cheever or Tobias Wolff, Barbash laces his narratives with sharp wit, psychological acuity and pathos, so that they pierce the heart and linger in the imagination. ''One of the most satisfying cover-to-cover short story collections I can remember'' Dave Eggers ''Tom Barbash''s wise and bittersweet stories map the gulfs between us, and the unexpected connections. I tried to keep track of my favorite one, but it was always the story I''d just finished''David Mitchell''Is there such a thing as the Great American Story Collection? Yes, and this is it'' Justin Cronin

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A new edition of a classic novel with a strong female lead.  Howard Frank Mosher is one of the best-loved writers of northern New England. One of his most vivid and memorable characters is Marie Blythe. At the dawn of the twentieth century, a young girl with a felicitous name immigrates to Vermont from French Canada. She grows up confronting the grim realities of life with an indomitable spirit—nursing victims of a tuberculosis epidemic, enduring a miscarriage alone in the wilderness, and coping with the uncertainties of love. In Marie Blythe, Mosher has created a strong-minded, passionate, and truly memorable heroine. This edition features a new introduction by novelist Tom Barbash.