LOOKING FOR HEROES ◇ The Permanent Press, 2007
Something’s not quite right in Emma and Gerald’s
four-bedroom house on Hawthorne Drive in suburban Long Island. Former social worker Emma Mallick finds herself longing
for the undomesticated landscape of her childhood summers in Maine, a place where
people think of thunderstorms as dazzling spectacles and do not hide from them
as she and her neighbors do. Emma’s husband Gerald Strauss finds no
satisfaction in his thriving radiology practice—indeed, begins to view it as he
might any crass means of turning a profit. And Aaron, their 18-year-old son, is
not following what one of Gerald’s medical partners calls “the approved and
prescribed path to adulthood.”
Husband and wife each find themselves needing a role model to lead the way—an archetypal figure most of their contemporaries would find quaint.
"An affecting tale of suburban familial angst. . . Grossman makes quiet desperation palpable.” —Publishers Weekly
"One can only admire the subtle, nuanced portraits of
Patricia Grossman’s embattled characters in this perceptive, beautifully
written novel.”
—Marian Thurm, author of What's Come Over You
“With this novel, Patricia Grossman shows that the truth
of a family can lie not in its well-lit, photo op moments but rather in its
shadows.”
—Carol Anshaw, author of Lucky in the Corner
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BRIAN IN THREE SEASONS ◇ The Permanent Press, 2005
2006 Ferro Grumley Award
The year
is 1995. Thirty-nine-year-old Brian Moss lives alone in New York City's Chelsea
neighborhood, his survival in the city barely rising above the marginal.
He's in danger of becoming a fixture on his block, someone not registered
by those around him. Over three seasons—autumn through spring—events
conspire to show Brian, who has a passionate love of art, that a richer
life is within his grasp. As Brian's life becomes illuminated within this set
passage of time, so does the reader's understanding of an ordinary, extraordinary man.
“. . . nicely nuanced . . . an engrossing cast of secondary characters”
—Publishers Weekly
“Deftly done.” —Kirkus Reviews
“In this novel of beauty and pain and wit, Patricia Grossman becomes the kind of author one not only admires, but looks forward to reading again and again for her insight, and fidelity to character, situation, and nuance. We care about her work because she cares, and deeply.”
—Hilton Als, staff writer, The New Yorker and author of The Group
"Brian comes alive from the first page. He is like we are-—smart in many ways, foolish in a few, and downright blind about one or two things that make all the difference. The characters are rich and real throughout; many of them could be subjects of other novels. Brian in Three Seasons is that most satisfying of books; a page turner full of wisdom, insight, and real surprise."
—Alice Elliot Dark, author of In the Gloaming and Think of England
"I delighted in watching Brian Moss, a gay urban man who is modest, intelligent, quietly but deeply moral, take full possession of his life. His initial reticence—in matters of work and of love—is only a protective cover for his profound sensitivity and his easily wounded heart. Grossman has given us a glimpse into one man's journey, but her graceful, deft writing and uncommon insight make the story resonate with the ring of universal truth."
—Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of Breaking the Bank
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UNEXPECTED CHILD ◇ Alyson Books; Krug & Schadenberg, 2001
(German edition cover)
Me
g Krantz is searching for a lot in her life, but not for a child. She has never known what kind of mother she'd be, selfless or purely acquisitive, and she hasn't been particularly eager to find out. Enter four-and-a-half year old Kimble Toffler.
UNEXPECTED CHILD
Best Books about AIDS for 2001—Gay Chicago Magazine
UK’s Rainbow.com Best Books of the Year, 2001
“A wry and perceptive take on gay parenting” —Library Journal
“Meg takes on much more than the task of parenting in this engrossing tale of love and family.” —ALA Booklist
A lively and satisfying novel that takes a fresh, up-to-the-minute look at the ever-fascinating theme of mothers and daughters. I cheered to see characters who might have been villains turn on the page into complicated human beings--to me one of the chief pleasures of good fiction.
—Alix Kates Shulman, author of A Good Enough Daughter
A novel about being delivered—freed—from our expectations. In prose that is confident and spare, often wry, and never sentimental, Patricia Grossman shows us how one woman comes to terms with her impulse to protect those she loves. —Michael Downing, author of Breakfast with Scot
WUNSCHTOCHTER
German edition
"A very touching and deep book." —Lespress
"A completely successful, sensitive book." —Lambda-Nachrichten
"A miraculous book about mothers and daughters, self-ironic and totally unsentimental.“ —Bookstore Jos Fritz, Freiburg
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FOUR FIGURES IN TIME ◇ Calyx Books, 1994
"
In this rich and multifaceted characterization, Grossman traces the development of ‘Four Figures’ whose lives irrevocably intersect at a Manhattan art school. . . . Highly recommended for collections of serious fiction."
—Library Journal
"Grossman skillfully weaves her four characters' adventures and misadventures into an engrossing tapestry of contemporary lives." —Booklist
"The writing here is seamless, concealing the craft behind it. Everything we don't care about has been left out, the array of lesser characters portrayed cleanly with a few brush strokes and concise dialogue." —The Bloomsbury Review
"Patricia Grossman brings to the novel the sensibility of a classicist, the sophistocation of a modernist, and the intelligence and heart of a maverick." —Sandra Scofield, National Book Award Nominee for Beyond Deserving
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INVENTIONS IN A GRIEVING HOUSE ◇ Galileo Books, 1991
"This
tender, subtle first novella begins with its very adult, preadolescent narrator, Mona, imagining a device that would waft her to the bathroom each morning to `do away with the necessity of taking the first step out of bed.’ She embellishes her world through inventions to mute the pain of her mother Cass’s death in an accident, `a treacherous bend in the maze of the universe's order.’ "—Publishers Weekly
"I haven't read such a poignant account of childhood and early adolescence since the days of J.D. Salinger and Carson McCullers. Ms. Grossman has written a beautiful tale." —James McConkey, author of Tree House Confessions