Chloe Benjamin is an author from San Francisco, CA. Her first novel, The Anatomy of Dreams (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2014), received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award and was long listed for the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Her second novel, The Immortalists, is forthcoming from Putnam/Penguin Random House in January 2018. The Immortalists will be published in over ten countries, and TV/film rights have sold to the Jackal Group.
A graduate of Vassar College and of the M.F.A. in fiction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chloe also teaches workshops on the business of publishing, from writing a novel to finding a literary agent. She lives with her husband in Madison, WI.
Wine People (2023) Michelle Wildgen "Wine People follows wine professionals Wren and Thessaly as they compete to become the heirs of a retiring New York City importer-but it's just as much about what happens after that. In sharp, sensory prose, Wildgen takes us from Madison, Wisconsin and Sonoma, California to Italy, France, and beyond. In her hands, wine is many things at once: a sometimes-destroyer of relationships, yes, but also an ancient art that bottles time and place. Smart and very funny, satirical but deeply felt, Wine People is an ode to the complexity of working friendships-as well as a shrewd, clear-eyed love letter to wine and the people who make, import, and drink it."
Forbidden City (2022) Vanessa Hua "Vanessa Hua's captivating second novel is an act of resistance and reclamation. Forbidden City explores questions of power, ambition, and visibility through a lens that is both clear-eyed and compassionate."
Memphis (2022) Tara M Stringfellow "In luminous, lyrical prose, Tara Stringfellow sings the song of the North women - and the North men - with wisdom, humor, and deep humanity. Memphis is an American epic, a tribute to life in all of its sorrow and joyful resilience."
Something Wild (2021) Hanna Halperin "Something Wild is the story of the fierce love and secrets that exist between sisters Tanya and Nessa and their mother, Lorraine—but I was just as impressed by the radical interiority that Hanna Halperin grants her characters. The women of this novel are painted with startling honesty and insight: they think the unthinkable, do the unfixable, and their raw vulnerability is thrilling, for it acknowledges our own. In this emotionally astute debut, Hanna Halperin shows herself to be a writer who is as compassionate as she is unafraid of darkness and taboo. Something Wild is tender, fearless, and savagely alive."
What Comes After (2021) JoAnne Tompkins "What Comes After is a tender, wise debut, both grave and hopeful. In telling the story of the violent act that rocks a small community—and what emerges from the ashes—JoAnne Tompkins explores responsibility and forgiveness, connection and loss, the families we’re born into and the ones we create. What Comes After asks whether we are inevitably shaped by the wounds we inherit—and the ones we give ourselves—or whether transformation, and redemption, are possible."
All Girls (2021) Emily Layden "All Girls kept me turning pages not only to uncover its central mystery but to discover something deeper: the surprises and secrets of this riveting cast of characters, in all of their full and complex humanity."
The Last Story of Mina Lee (2020) Nancy Jooyoun Kim "Suspenseful and deeply felt, The Last Story of Mina Lee begins when Margot Lee discovers her mother's death before reeling back in time to explore the secrets that divided Mina and Margot--as well as those that bound them together. Nancy Jooyoun Kim's debut artfully explores a diverse range of immigrant experiences, the meaning of family and home, and the nature of language--how it can be an ocean that divides, or a bridge that connects. In the process, The Last Story of Mina Lee raises questions about the reality of the American dream and illuminates stories that often go untold, in life as well as fiction."
The Second Home (2020) Christina Clancy "I gobbled The Second Home in a matter of days, fully invested in the history, hurt, and hopes of this very human family. Christina Clancy writes with empathy and rich detail: to read about the Gordons is to smell the pine and oak of Wellfleet, to tread the well-worn rooms of their eccentric summer home, and to learn all sides of the explosive rift that sent them hurtling in different directions. Tender and suspenseful, Clancy's debut explores the nature of home as well as the nature of family itself - given and chosen."
The Lightness (2020) Emily Temple "The Lightness could be the love child of Donna Tartt and Tana French, but its savage, glittering magic is all Emily Temple’s own."
Broken People (2020) Sam Lansky "Don't underestimate Broken People: it may be full of delightful, razor-edged cultural commentary, but so too is it a journey of the soul. Too vulnerable to be blithely satirical and too self-aware to serve or fall for easy platitudes, Sam Lansky's debut novel sends up LA's consumerist wellness obsession while exploring the nature of health, acceptance, and human connection. The result is profound and affecting--as savvy as it is searching, as critical as it is compassionate."
The Knockout Queen (2020) Rufi Thorpe "Fearless, tender, and savagely alive, The Knockout Queen is unlike anything you'll read this year. Rufi Thorpe's third novel is about unruly thoughts and unruly bodies, about violence and love, about doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and the drag of human being. You won't be able to look away. You might even recognize yourself."
Please See Us (2020) Caitlin Mullen "Please See Us is riveting, the rare book that unpacks and deplores violence against women even as it depicts it. In Caitlin Mullen's hands, everyone has a voice, and the dead speak as loudly as the living. Please See Us is a beautifully written, thoughtful page-turner, as well as a tribute to the women-- not just victims, but full human beings--who so frequently go unseen."
In Five Years (2020) Rebecca Serle "IN FIVE YEARS is as clever as it is moving, the rare read-in-one-sitting novel you won't forget."
Such a Fun Age (2019) Kiley Reid "In Such a Fun Age, Emira Tucker's relationships with her employer and new boyfriend culminate in an unexpected, combustible triangle so ingeniously plotted and observed that my heart pounded as though I was reading a thriller. This is not a world of easy answers but one in which intentions don't match actions and expectations don't match consequences, where it is possible to mean something partly good and do something mostly bad. The result is both unsparing and compassionate, impossible to read without wincing in recognition--and questioning yourself. Such a Fun Age is nothing short of brilliant, and Kiley Reid is a writer we need now."
The Editor (2019) Steven Rowley "Told with warmth and humour – the story of a mother-son reconciliation, facilitated by a most unlikely fairy godmother…delightful."
The Falconer (2019) Dana Czapnik "Meet Lucy Adler. As I read The Falconer, I felt like I'd found a literary cousin of Holden Caulfield--if Holden were a straight-shooting, hip-hop-listening, court-dominating, seventeen-year-old Jewish-Italian girl. Dana Czapnik has crafted a wholly original coming-of-age story. In basketball terms, The Falconer is a fearless three-point shot."
A Light of Her Own (2018) Carrie Callaghan "A Light of Her Own follows two women as they seek space, respect and professional opportunity in a culture that allows them very little of it. Impeccably researched and vibrantly told, Carrie Callaghan's debut paints a picture worthy of Judith herself."
Come with Me (2018) Helen Schulman "With wit and compassion, Helen Schulman explores what happened, what might have happened, and what could still happen in the lives of one family. Clever and sparkling, fascinating and tender, eerily resonant, Come With Me is a novel for everyone who has ever wondered: What if."
The Clairvoyants (2017) Karen Brown "The Clairvoyants is a deliciously modern classic ghost story, full of snowstorms and sly sisters and sorrowful, dangerous parties. Karen Brown has created a world in which the dead are as real as the living and the living cannot be trusted. I was haunted by my visit there and, like the ghosts that populate this taut and magnetic novel, I didn't want to leave."
Harmless Like You (2016) Rowan Hisayo Buchanan "With kaleidoscopic prose and characters all too human, HARMLESS LIKE YOU is an unforgettable debut, as rich in darkness and light as it is in color."
