{"product_id":"9781250793614","title":"Dear Miss Metropolitan : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Carolyn Ferrell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroducing an extraordinary and original writer whose first novel explores the intersections of grief and rage, personal strength and healing--and what we owe one another.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFern seeks refuge from her mother’s pill-popping and boyfriends via Soul Train; Gwin finds salvation in the music of Prince much to her congregation’s dismay and Jesenia, miles ahead of her classmates at her gifted and talented high school, is a brainy and precocious enigma.  None of this matters to Boss Man, the monster who abducts them and holds them captive in a dilapidated house in Queens. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the night they are finally rescued, throngs line the block gawking and claiming ignorance. Among them is lifetime resident Miss Metropolitan, advice columnist for the local weekly, but how could anyone who fancies herself a “newspaperwoman” have missed a horror story unfolding right across the street? And why is it that only two of the three girls—now women—were found? The mystery haunts the two remaining “victim girls” who are subjected to the further trauma of becoming symbols as they continuously adapt to their present and their unrelenting past. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike Colson Whitehead's \u003ci\u003eThe Nickel Boys\u003c\/i\u003e, Ferrell’s \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e gives voice to characters surviving unimaginable tragedy. The story is inventively revealed before, during, and after the ordeal in this singular and urgent novel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOne of Publishers Weekly's Best Book of 2021\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The novel is not easy, but how could it be? . . . \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e is devastating, but it shouldn’t be summed up as such. This is a blistering contribution to the cohort of contemporary literature focused on sexual violence. It is a novel that reads like a labyrinth, as complex as the trauma it depicts.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKate Elizabeth Russell, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] vivid maker of sentences with a flair for casual surrealisms . . . Ferrell is navigating American trauma writ large, as well as her characters’ own.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Dwight Garner, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I can guarantee, though, that you’ve never read a book quite like Carolyn Ferrell’s first novel . . . Not every mansion Ferrell visits yields secret troves of treasure, but she ensures they are all worth exploring.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—USA Today\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Entering into this book is like leaping into a pool either a little too hot or a little too cold—it’s bracing at first, but then you adapt and cannot imagine any other pool. . . . Throughout, Ferrell plucks like a guitar string the ostensible line that separates fiction from nonfiction. . . . Ferrell’s prose has a patter and a pulse, which is to say it is language that has been truly composed.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—The Brooklyn Rail\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This tale of pain and healing will keep readers fully engaged and discussion groups talking for a long time.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Library Journal starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“You have not heard the last from Carolyn Ferrell. Her talent is too stunning to ignore.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Book Reporter\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Such a beautifully rendered and provocative novel. Ferrell has given me a world I could never have imagined filled with so many people I feel like I’ve always known. A stunner.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJacqueline Woodson\u003c\/b\u003e, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eRed at the Bone\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAnother Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e and National Book Award winner\u003ci\u003e Brown Girl Dreaming\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Sometimes, to write about a horrifying trauma and its resounding effects, you have to write toward the heart of the matter in unexpected ways. Carolyn Ferrell does just that in her remarkable, challenging debut novel \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e. This is the story of three girls stolen from their lives by a sadistic man, but it is also about a community that failed each of the girls and what it can be like to emerge from a very dark, damaged place on fragile footing. \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e is a story told in brilliant, jagged fragments. It is a story that will make you uncomfortable and it will make you ache and make you rage. Ferrell's novel is a monumental provocation and heralds great things to come from an immensely talented writer.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eRoxane Gay\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eDifficult Women \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eHunger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Dear Miss Metropolitan \u003c\/i\u003eis heart-wreck of a story of how pain and suffering fracture lives, but also a hopeful one that testifies of the human will to survive. While the nexus of the book is unimaginable trauma and its aftermath, Carolyn Ferrell has wrung from it, wondrous beauty. Believeyoume, it’s the kind of book that begs at least two reads: one for the drama propelling you page to page, and another for its inimitable style—the music of its language, the masterful handling of narration, the daring inventiveness. This novel is nothing short of an artistic feat.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eMitchell S. Jackson,\u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003eThe Residue Years \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Dear Miss Metropolitan \u003c\/i\u003eshowcases Carolyn Ferrell’s dazzlingly original vision, her ability to blend current events and razor-sharp social observation with age-old archetypes, to create dark contemporary mythic narrative—and above all to express, sometimes in single voices, sometimes in chorus, the deepest truths of women’s souls.   By turns heartbreaking, comical, chilling, and hauntingly beautiful, \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e leads the reader on an unforgettable epic journey through the shadowy recesses of human transgression, a trip that at surprising moments breaks through into the light.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eAndrea Lee\u003c\/b\u003e, author of\u003ci\u003e Red Island House\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“You think you’re ready for this novel, but you’re not ready. Carolyn Ferrell has shaped a story made of diamonds and broken glass; it’s going to cut you deep. \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e is a triumph of storytelling in all its forms, a collage of styles and sympathies. A stunner.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eVictor LaValle\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Changeling\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A daring and powerful first novel. Carolyn Ferrell is masterful in delivering us into the depth of her characters’ dark worlds so that we emerge with the light of understanding and the inspiration to take actions. I am changed after reading this book.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNguyen Phan Que Mai\u003c\/b\u003e, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Mountains Sing \u003c\/i\u003eand winner of BookBrowse's Best Debut Award for 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I think this is really a brilliant book. No one is better than Carolyn Ferrell at capturing the vitality of human voices, and here they blaze out a portrait of the unthinkable, three young women kidnapped for more than a decade. It’s a page-turner genius of a book, astute about the details that sustain, the traps that spring, and what it means to be a girl.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJoan Silber\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eImprovement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A brilliant novel, and a stunning feat of sympathetic imagination. It's an amazing accomplishment, to write a book that is so terribly, indelibly sad and also so funny.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBrian Morton\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eStarting Out in the Evening\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFlorence Gordon\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The \"victim girls\" in Carolyn Ferrell's novel \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e are some of the most original, rich, memorable characters I've read. \u003ci\u003eDear Miss Metropolitan\u003c\/i\u003e is an astonishing, innovative novel of trauma and connection and survival, and Carolyn Ferrell is a brilliant writer.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKaren E. Bender\u003c\/b\u003e, National Book Award finalist for \u003ci\u003eRefund\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Ferrell astounds with the complex and formally inventive story of three young women who are kidnapped and held captive at a house in Queens, N.Y., and of their discovery a decade later. . . . It’s a powerful examination of collective trauma.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Publishers Weekly starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong-listed NPR Best Book of the Year (2021)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250793614\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Henry Holt and Co.","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40799234949326,"sku":"9781250793614","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_03f3b75e-7290-441b-9b6b-07316cf8357d.jpg?v=1644847314","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250793614","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}