New Releases by Francine Prose

release date: Oct 13, 2009

"Francine Prose has a knack for getting to the heart of human nature. . . . We are allowed to enter the moral dilemmas of fascinating characters whose emotional lives are strung out by the same human frailties, secrets and insecurities we all share." — USA Today One spring afternoon, Vincent Nolan, a young neo-Nazi walks into the office of a human rights foundation headed by Meyer Maslow, a charismatic Holocaust survivor. Vincent announces that he wants to make a radical change. But what is Maslow to make of this rough-looking stranger with Waffen SS tattoos who says that his mission is to save guys like him from becoming guys like him? As Vincent gradually turns into the sort of person who might actually be able to do that, he also begins to transform everyone around him, including Maslow himself. Masterfully plotted, darkly comic, A Changed Man poses essential questions about human nature, morality, and the capacity for change, illuminating the everyday transactions, both political and personal, in our lives.

Blue Angel

release date: Oct 13, 2009

The National Book Award Finalist from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Francine Prose—now the major motion picture Submission “Screamingly funny … Blue Angel culminates in a sexual harassment hearing that rivals the Salem witch trials.” —USA Today It''s been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel. It''s been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Deliciously risque, Blue Angel is a withering take on today''s academic mores and a scathing tale that vividly shows what can happen when academic politics collides with political correctness.

Touch

release date: Jun 16, 2009

What really happened at the back of the bus? Did they, or didn''t they? Did she, or didn''t she? Something happened to fourteen-year-old Maisie Willard—something involving her three friends, all boys. But their stories don''t match, and the rumors spin out of control. Then other people get involved . . . the school, the parents, the lawyers. The incident at the back of the bus becomes the center of Maisie''s life and the talk of the school, and, horribly, it becomes news. With just a few words and a touch, the kids and their community are changed forever. From nationally acclaimed author Francine Prose comes an unforgettable story about the difficulties of telling the truth, the consequences of lying, and the most dangerous twist of all—the possibility that you yourself will come to believe something that you know isn''t true.

Hunters and Gatherers

release date: Nov 13, 2008

With her trademark acerbic wit and compassion, Francine Prose offers a sharp-eyed consideration of how men and women differ in their pursuit - and avoidance - of power, sex, and competition. A satire of the pieties of New Age religion and knee-jerk feminism, Hunters and Gatherers nevertheless radiates sympathy for our efforts to reconcile spiritual longings with our earthbound, all-too-human nature.

Scent of a Woman's Ink

release date: Sep 01, 2000

This compilation of heretofore uncollected essays shows noted novelist and cultural critic Francine Prose at her most eloquent, incisive, and provocative.When Francine Prose''s article, Scent of a Woman''s Ink--which discussed how women writers are consistently underrepresented among the winners of major American literary awards--appeared in Harper''s magazine thre e years ago, it touched off a storm of debate and counter-arguments, both in print and on the airwaves. In SCENT OF A WOMAN''S INK: ESSAYS BY FRANCINE PROSE, that article, along with Prose''s equally pithy and incisive writings about the art and politics of writing and its at times jarring intersection with the culture it documents, confirms Prose''s place as one of the most readable and relevant cultural critics writing today.From Learnining from Chekhov, her elegant and considered essay on the art and craft of writing to A Wasteland of One''s Own, her controversial and much-discussed piece about the commercially created and dumbed-down women''s culture for The New York Times, Prose''s essays are at once instructive and revelatory, and always provocative.

Women and Children First

release date: Jan 01, 1988

"Presents the story of Dinah Rappoport, star of the Yiddish stage, and her three weddings - to the same man. The novel tells of her eventful performance in Anski''s classic play of thwarted love and demonic possession, The Dybbuk, its galvanizing effect on the hungry hearts of players and audience alike, and the unexpected ways in which the play''s themes resonate in Dinah''s own life"--Goodreads website, viewed May 30, 2024.

Stories from Our Living Past

Twenty-eight Jewish tales with morals, including "Daniel in the Lion''s Den", "The King''s Garden", and "The Goat that Made the Stars Sing".

You Never Know: A Legend of the Lamed-vavniks

by: Francine Prose, Mark Podwal

The town of Plotchnik hasn't had a drop of rain in forty days. But the town's humble shoemaker, Poor Schmuel, has the power to command rain and much more. What makes him so extraordinary? Nobody, including the town elders, can explain it until one nightthe Rabbi has a very strange dream.... Francine Prose and Mark Podwal bring to life with wit and flavor another Jewish legend in this tale of Schmuel and the holy Lamed-vavniks.

Goldengrove

At the center of Francine Prose's profoundly moving new novel is a young girl facing the consequences of sudden loss after the death of her sister. As her parents drift toward their own risky consolations, thirteen-year-old Nico is left alone to grope toward understanding and clarity, falling into a seductive, dangerous relationship with her sister's enigmatic boyfriend.

Over one haunted summer, Nico must face that life-changing moment when children realize their parents can no longer help them. She learns about the power of art, of time and place, the mystery of loss and recovery. But for all the darkness at the novel's heart, the narrative itself is radiant with the lightness of summer and charged by the restless sexual tension of teenage life.

Goldengrove takes its place among the great novels of adolescence, beside Henry James's The Awkward Age and L. P. Hartley's The Go-Between.

Helga's Diary: A Young Girl's Account of Life in a Concentration Camp: A Young Girl's Account of Life in a Concentration Camp

by: Helga Weiss, Francine Prose, Francine Prose