Synopses & Reviews
One writer's mysterious death, another's relentless quest for fame, and a bitter literary critic's passion for manipulation drive the story of this haunting novel set in a small upstate New York college town in the 1990s.
Catherine Strayed wonders if she'll ever know the truth about the death of her husband, a promising writer who died under circumstances that could have been accidental, or a suicide, or perhaps even murder. But after his death, instead of leaving the secluded college town to which he had brought her, she simply tries to go on with her life there. When her former mentor, who had also briefly been her lover--a powerful critic who singlehandedly destroyed her husband's chance for success--takes a teaching job at the college, Catherine's world threatens to collapse. For with him has come his latest protégé, an exotic young woman named Antonia Lively who has written a novel that has become a literary sensation. She insinuates herself into Catherine's life, and mysterious and frightening things start to happen as, unbeknownst to Catherine, the younger woman sets out to steal the truth of her life and the death of her husband so that she can plunder them for her next literary triumph.
Levinson's richly crafted characters and his tautly drawn plot mark the debut of an exciting young talent.
Review
"A sweet, smart, tasty book, it hooked me from the start and swiftly pulled me to shore." --Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart
Review
"Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence has the taut pacing and intellectual daring of Donna Tartt's The Secret History and the gothic, dark, page-turning energy of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca."
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"Precise in its plot, immaculate in its writing, Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence is a thriller in every sense of the word. Thrilling to read, with enough terrifying plot twists to keep you up far into the night, and thrilling in the precision and creative expansiveness of the storytelling itself. You are going to love this novel." --Robert Goolrick, author of Heading Out to Wonderful Robert Goolrick
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"Levinson's characters are wonderfully, maddeningly insistent on their own view of things, often to their detriment. This approach leaves room for great moral complexity . . . My sympathies and allegiances shifted constantly. I can't think of the last novel I read that had the power to manipulate me so well." --Dale Peck Dale Peck
Synopsis
Catherine Strayed is living a quiet, un-
remarkable life in a secluded college town following the mysterious death of her husband, a promising writer whose death may have been an accident, a suicide, or perhaps even a murder. When her former mentor (and onetime lover)--a powerful critic who singlehandedly destroyed her late husband's chance for success--takes a teaching job at the college, Catherine's world threatens to collapse. For with him has come his latest protégé, an exotic young woman named Antonia Lively. Antonia's debut
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About the Author
David Samuel Levinson is the author of a story collection, Most of Us Are Here Against Our Will. His stories have appeared as well in Prairie Schooner, West Branch, and the Brooklyn Review, among others. He lives in New York City. This is his first novel.