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Speak NowBy Kaylie Jones (author of A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries and Celeste Ascending) Fiction | Trade Cloth 
Click here to see author photo & read an exclusive interview with Kaylie Jones. Click here to read chapter 1 of Speak Now. Click here to see details on the new paperback edition of Speak Now A literary thriller from the daughter of James Jones. "Kaylie Jones's Speak Now is one of those rare novels that fuses the craft of the narrative with the art of characterization: a page-turner cast with complex characters including the addicted, the haunted, and the doers of good deeds. Ms. Jones is to be commended, too, for her vivid portrayals of the experiences and memories of Holocaust victims, who contribute touching and ironic commentary to this tale of contemporary lives or frequently self-inflicted pain." -- Sidney Offit, author of Memoir of the Bookie's Son "Although we've gotten used to second-generation actors equaling or surpassing the accomplishments of their parents, the same hasn't happened with second-generation novelist. Nonetheless there are a few . . . and added to their small number ought to be Kaylie Jones." -- New York Times Clara Sverdlow has been stalked by Niko Kamenski, her high-school lover, for almost twenty years. A recently sober alcoholic in her mid thirties, she has found happiness in a tenuous new marriage to Mark, another recovering alcoholic. Yet the past lurks over them like a great shadow, always encroaching on their happiness. Clara Sverdlow's father, Viktor, was a Russian political prisoner in Auschwitz. He was involved in the camp underground, helping to "organize" much-needed goods to help the prisoners. But he also worked on the train ramps and helped to guide thousands of innocent victims to the gas chambers. The guilt and horror Viktor still carries with him are part of his daughter Clara's natural composition, something she doesn't understand and yet accepts as one would a congenital illness. It shapes her every action, and is at the root of her every phobia. Mark has his own demons -- a brother dead from a drug overdose, and connections to his hometown heavies, which he can't seem to break free of. Yet together they have found a tenuous grace. With a miracle baby, they are trying to forget the past and learn to live normally in the world. But Clara's stalker Niko Kamenski secretly insinuates himself upon their life, with disastrous consequences. Clara and Mark's only hope is to address the past, and confront the present situation before it's too late. Kaylie Jones was born in Paris. She is the author of five novels, including A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (Akashic, 2003; Bantam, 1990; released as a Merchant Ivory film in 1998), Celeste Ascending (Harper-Collins, 2000), As Soon As it Rains (Doubleday, 1986) and Quite the Other Way (Doubleday, 1989). Jones has been a Writer in Residence in the New York City public schools through Teachers & Writers Collaborative for many years. In 1997, she became involved in the creation of the MFA Program in Writing of Long Island University's Southampton campus, where she still teaches Literature and Fiction Writing. Jones's novels have been translated into many languages including German, French, Japanese, and Italian. She lives in New York City with her husband and daughter. |
