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Sign up todayPasadena
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Learn moreThis sweeping, richly imagined novel charts the rapid transformation of Southern California from frontier to suburb during the first half of the twentieth century. At the story's center is Linda Stamp, a fisher girl born in 1903 on a coastal farm in San Diego's North County, and the three men who upend her life and vie for her affection: her pragmatic farming brother, Edmund; Captain Willis Poore, a Pasadena rancher with a heroic military past; and Bruder, the mysterious young man Linda's father brings home from World War I. Through the darkly handsome Bruder, Linda glimpses love and a world beyond her own. She follows him to the seemingly greener pastures of Pasadena, where he is the foreman of a flourishing orange ranch, the homestead and inheritance of the charming bachelor Willis Poore.
David Ebershoff is the author of two novels, Pasadena and The Danish Girl, and a short-story collection, The Rose City. His fiction has won a number of awards and has been translated into ten languages to critical acclaim. He has taught creative writing at New York University, Princeton, and Columbia University. For many years he was the publishing director of the Modern Library, and he is an editor-at-large for Random House.
Lorna Raver, named one of AudioFile magazine’s Best Voices of the Year, has received numerous Audie nominations and AudioFile Earphones Awards. An experienced stage actress, she has also guest-starred on many top television series and starred in director Sam Raimi’s film Drag Me to Hell. Among her many Blackstone titles are The Age of Innocence, Up from Orchard Street, The Lodger, Selected Readings from the Portable Dorothy Parker, and Diamond Ruby.
Reviews
“Pasadena is not merely a wondrous novel about California. It is a breathtakingly powerful novel about America. Here is an altogether mesmerizing story of a world forever transformed, as well as one of the most authentic and beautiful love stories I’ve ever read. Pure and simple, this book is a treasure.”
“Pasadena is like a grand opera…Ebershoff must be applauded for the grandness of his design, for grand characters, for grand setting, and…for his grand vision of Pasadena as the center of ‘real history.’”
“Full of detail and unerring language…magically evokes the rich and varied landscape of Southern California.”
“Both a triumph of historical re-creation and a full-bodied romance…You feel that, if you were transported back to Pasadena in 1925, Ebershoff’s book would enable you to find your way around perfectly.”
“Ebershoff’s crafting of characters is so sharp, so perfect, that we ache for most of them…[He] has us in thrall, and every word he writes counts.”
“A luxurious tragedy…gorgeous, full of romance and disaster…Pasadena is a novel to get lost in.”
“Rich with exuberant details…difficult to put down…Ebershoff has a luxuriant way with words, and through his beautiful prose he includes readers in the intrigue of a swiftly passing shop window, the refinement of a well-made lobster trap, and the coarseness of a saloon filled with whores and their clients. The many details bring us closer to each character’s motives, and when the last page is read we may even realize that the book moved us to a different time and place—just like a good book should.”
“Lorna Raver performs with great intelligence and enthusiasm. Her flexible voice reaches from sultry to shrill to raspy effortlessly.”
“Linda and Bruder are soulfully reminiscent of Emily Brontë’s ill-fated Cathy and Heathcliff and their tragic depiction of unfulfilled romantic passion in Wuthering Heights. This is a rich blend of California history in a well mastered plot that maintains an enduring element of surprise.”
“A meticulously researched narrative that combines elements of gothic fairy tale, nineteenth-century romance, and the rise and decline of an enchanted American city, Pasadena is a traditional family saga in the very best sense.”
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