Synopses & Reviews
For fans of Donna Tartt and Megan Abbott, a novel about a woman whose family and identity are threatened by the secrets of her past, from the New York Times bestselling author of She’s Not There.
On a warm August night in 1980, six college students sneak into the dilapidated ruins of Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, looking for a thrill. With a pianist, a painter and a teacher among them, the friends are full of potential. But it’s not long before they realize they are locked in — and not alone. When the friends get lost and separated, the terrifying night ends in tragedy, and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences reverberate through the survivors’ lives. As they go their separate ways, trying to move on, it becomes clear that their dark night in the prison has changed them all. Decades later, new evidence is found, and the dogged detective investigating the cold case charges one of them — celebrity chef Jon Casey — with murder. Only Casey’s old friend Judith Carrigan can testify to his innocence.
But Judith is protecting long-held secrets of her own – secrets that, if brought to light, could destroy her career as a travel writer and tear her away from her fireman husband and teenage son. If she chooses to help Casey, she risks losing the life she has fought to build and the woman she has struggled to become. In any life that contains a "before" and an "after," how is it possible to live one life, not two?
Weaving deftly between 1980 and the present day, and told in an unforgettable voice, Long Black Veil is an intensely atmospheric thriller that explores the meaning of identity, loyalty, and love. Readers will hail this as Boylan’s triumphant return to fiction.
Review
"In the tradition of Donna Tartt, Jennifer Finney Boylan has crafted a thriller that’s intellectual, existential, and compulsively readable. If change is the only constant in life, how much can a person reinvent himself and still be the same? Long after the last page is turned, you will be thinking about the nature of identity, the pull of the past, and whether you can ever outrun the person you used to be." Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and Leaving Time
Review
"This is a nifty little setup for a thriller, and Boylan uses the murder mystery as a frame for interrogating our ideas about identity in ways that are both thoughtful and darkly comic. A trans woman, Boylan is best known as a memoirist and an activist, and the trans character in this novel adds a layer of intrigue and complexity…. Boylan is skilled at creating intriguing, three-dimensional characters; even those characters who prove to be inconsequential emerge as real, unique individuals…. It’s hard to stop reading as these well-crafted characters confront middle age while confronting the defining event of their youth." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This is Jennifer Finney Boylan’s best book. It’s one of the most eloquent pleas for empathy and moral imagination I’ve ever encountered." Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Nobody’s Fool
Review
"[A] madcap thriller full of hidden identities…. And embedded in the whodunit is a heartwarming midlife love story, in which hard-won candor, tenacity, and a generous sense of humor are the most saving of graces." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of She's Not There, a new novel about a woman whose family and identity are threatened by the secrets of her past.
About the Author
Jennifer Finney Boylan is Professor of English at Colby College and the author of the bestseller She’s Not There, as well as the acclaimed novels The Planets and Getting In. A three-time guest of The Oprah Winfrey Show, she has also appeared on Larry King Live, Today, and 48 Hours, and has played herself on ABC’s All My Children. She lives in Belgrade Lakes, Maine.
Jennifer Finney Boylan on PowellsBooks.Blog
For a long time, I thought that my life would be divided not only by gender, but by genre. By which I mean that when I was a boy — yes, I’m transgender, in case some of you didn’t get the memo — I wrote fiction; and when I became female, almost 20 years ago now, I wrote nonfiction. It wasn’t an intentional switch...
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