Join Novel Ideas for a reading group discussion of Manhattan Beach by
Jennifer Egan! Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her
father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to
the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the
sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.
Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war.
Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold
jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the
first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations,
repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at
a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand
the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have
vanished. “A magnificent achievement, at once a suspenseful noir
intrigue and a transporting work of lyrical beauty and emotional
heft” (The Boston Globe), “Egan’s first foray into historical
fiction makes you forget you’re reading historical fiction at all”
(Elle). Manhattan Beach takes us into a world populated by gangsters,
sailors, divers, bankers, and union men in a dazzling, propulsive
exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of
women and men, of America and the world. Get Manhattan Beach for 20%
off in store and online during the months of December and January!
Parking: Lot one block north; street parking (meters free after 7pm).
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23/01/2020 Last update