Kunstlers in Paradise

The beloved bestselling author of The Three Weissmanns of Westport--once dubbed "the modern-day Jewish Jane Austen"--brings forth a comedy of generational manners that glides between 1939 and 2020 LA as Mamie Kunstler and her grandson weather hard times and discover how to make them their own.

An ill-timed visit forces twentysomething New Yorker Julian to shelter in place in Venice Beach with his 93-year-old grandmother, Mamie K nstler. To pass the time, Mamie regales Julian with stories from when her family fled Vienna to escape the Third Reich and landed in the jarring but wonderful world of 1939 Los Angeles. There, the K nstlers joined the large collection of directors, actors, writers, and composers who held court in Hollywood's exile kingdom.

As Mamie entertains her new roommate with stories of her adolescent adventures amongst the migr elite such as Arnold Schoenberg, Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Greta Garbo, Julian reckons with his own reality and the life he thought he wanted.

Cathleen Schine's writing has been hailed as "sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious and deeply affecting" by the New York Times, and those qualities stand out more than ever in K nstlers in Paradise. Here, Schine weaves together the story of a family of Jewish migr s just after they fled from Vienna to LA in the 1930s and life in the pandemic to craft a beautiful, often humorous examination of the identities we inherit and assume and what it means to be displaced. K nstlers in Paradise is the coming-of-age story of a indecisive young man coming into his own and his eccentric, worldly grandmother as they both discover that history does not end.

Once upon a time--in 1939, to be precise--there was a teenage girl who was banished by the Nazis from the fairy-tale city of Vienna. Her family joined the large collection of directors, actors, writers, and composers who held court in Hollywood's exile kingdom, where, in 2020, her happily ever after is still unspooling.

An ill-timed visit forces twentysomething New Yorker Julian to shelter in place in Venice Beach with his glamorous and eccentric ninety-three-year-old grandmother, Mamie K nstler, and her inscrutable housekeeper. To pass the time, Mamie regales Julian with stories of her adolescent adventures among the migr elite, from tennis lessons with Arnold Schoenberg to a romance with Greta Garbo.

And amid his inadvertent extended stay in his grandmother's crumbling domain, Julian undergoes his own personal quest as he reckons with the trajectory of the life he thought he wanted and what role he will choose to play in it all.

Cathleen Schine, "the modern-day Jewish Jane Austen," has had her novels described by the New York Times over the past four decades as "elegantly intricate," "as witty as they are erudite," a "delectable fantasy," and "full of sparkle." K nstlers in Paradise brings all that magic and more to this comedic, captivating tale of exile and the power of stories--both the ones we hand down and the ones held secretly in the heart.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in the fairy-tale city of Vienna. Because it was a real and dangerous time--1939, to be precise--she was forced to flee the Nazis with her family. They found refuge in the community of illustrious directors, actors, writers, and composers who held court in Hollywood's exile kingdom. But every fairy-tale has its dragons--and every dragon its storyteller. In 2020, Even as a pandemic roars at the gate, the little girl, now old but undefeated, continues to tell her extraordinary tale.

An ill-timed visit forces twentysomething New Yorker Julian to shelter in place in Venice Beach with his glamorous and eccentric ninety-three-year-old grandmother, Mamie K nstler, and her inscrutable housekeeper. To pass the time, Mamie regales Julian with stories of her adolescent adventures among the migr elite, from tennis lessons with Arnold Schoenberg to a romance with Greta Garbo.

During his unexpected extended stay in his grandmother's crumbling domain, Julian undergoes his own personal quest as he reckons with the trajectory of the life he thought he wanted and what role he will choose to play in it all.

Cathleen Schine, "the modern-day Jewish Jane Austen," has had her novels described by the New York Times over the past four decades as "elegantly intricate," "as witty as they are erudite," a "delectable fantasy," and "full of sparkle." K nstlers in Paradise brings all that magic and more to this comedic, captivating tale of exile and the power of stories--both the ones we hand down and the ones held secretly in the heart.

There was a time when the family K nstler lived in the fairy-tale city of Vienna. Circumstances transformed that fairy tale into a nightmare, and in 1939 the K nstlers found their way out of Vienna and into a new fairy tale: Los Angeles, California, United States of America.

An ill-timed visit forces twentysomething New Yorker Julian to shelter in place in Venice Beach with his glamorous and eccentric ninety-three-year-old grandmother, Mamie K nstler, and her inscrutable housekeeper. To pass the time, Mamie regales Julian with stories of her adolescent adventures among the migr elite, from tennis lessons with Arnold Schoenberg to a romance with Greta Garbo.

During his unexpected extended stay in his grandmother's crumbling domain, Julian undergoes his own personal quest as he reckons with the trajectory of the life he thought he wanted and what role he will choose to play in it all.

Cathleen Schine, "the modern-day Jewish Jane Austen," has had her novels described by the New York Times over the past four decades as "elegantly intricate," "as witty as they are erudite," a "delectable fantasy," and "full of sparkle." K nstlers in Paradise brings all that magic and more to this comedic, captivating tale of exile and the power of stories--both the ones we hand down and the ones held secretly in the heart.