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Sign up todayChristodora
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Learn moreIn this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan’s East Village, the Christodora. The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared’s lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, Milly and Jared’s adopted son Mateo grows to see the opportunity for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers.
As the junkies and protesters of the 1980s give way to the hipsters of the 2000s and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020s, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them.
Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a true response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.
Tim Murphy, PhD, is a psychologist, retired member of Congress, and former Pennsylvania state senator. In Congress, he authored the landmark reform legislation Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, garnering praise and support from the American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance on Mental Illness, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The bill was signed into law in December of 2016. Murphy served on the staffs of several hospitals, as an Associate Professor of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and in his own private practice. As Navy psychologist, he specialized in the treatment of post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury with wounded service members. With Loriann Oberlin, he is coauthor of The Angry Child. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Nanette.
Loriann Oberlin, MS, LCPC, is a clinical counselor and therapist. She is the author of ten books on psychological issues, health, relationships, parenting, and other topics; titles include The Angry Child (with Tim Murphy), Surviving Separation and Divorce, and Writing to Make Money. She lives in Maryland. LoriannOberlin.com
Cassandra Campbell has won multiple Audie Awards, Earphones Awards, and the prestigious Odyssey Award for narration.
The narrator of over 150 audiobooks, Christa Lewis is a 2019 Voice Arts Award-winning narrator, a 2018 Audie Award finalist, and a 2018 Listener's Choice finalist. She has been featured in AudioFile magazine and earned multiple Earphones Awards for recordings that have become Audible bestsellers in YA and literary fiction. Christa is a classically trained actress. She got her start as a newsreader for international broadcaster DW-TV, and is featured on hundreds of cartoons, museum guides, and documentaries. She also regularly contributes to award-winning podcasts. Christa speaks accent-free German fluently and can offer a variety of accents and dialects.
Suzanne Elise Freeman spent her childhood watching her father act on stage, and causing mischief in the booth while he was on-air for the local radio station. She inherited her love of storytelling from him (even playing his daughter in On Golden Pond), and her passion for reading from her mother. Suzanne now works as a narrator and professional actor in projects ranging from television and movies to Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. Born and raised in Minnesota, Suzanne now makes her home in Los Angeles.
Prentice Onayemi is an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator and a voice and film actor who is known for his roles in The Steam-Room Crooner, AmeriQua, and as Joey in the Tony Award–winning play War Horse.
Thom Rivera is a multiple Earphones award-winning narrator. He is also a classically trained television, film, theatre, and voice actor. Based in Los Angeles, he spent twelve years living and working in New York City. He has toured nationally and performed at regional theatres and Shakespeare Festivals throughout the US. On television, he can be seen in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, New Girl, The Mindy Project, and the CBS series Zoo.
Rebecca Podos is the author of The Mystery of Hollow Places. She is a graduate of the writing, literature, and publishing program at Emerson College, and her fiction has been published in Glimmer Train, Glyph, Paper Darts, Bellows American Review, and SmokeLong Quarterly. She lives with her husband in Connecticut. You can find her online at www.RebeccaPodos.com.
Will Damron is an Audie Award-nominated narrator who has recorded books in every genre, from science fiction and fantasy to romance, YA, and nonfiction. Raised in rural southern Virginia, he has appeared Off-Broadway and on stage and screen throughout the country. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Reviews
“In this audio performance, there’s not a weak link to be found. Each narrator in the group brings something unique and enjoyable to the production…Each narrator voices a person whose life pulses within those walls, and each does so with a distinctive personality and a vocal quality that adds to Murphy’s intense characterizations. Thought-provoking, precise, complex, and real, Christodora’s narrators are a glorious reflection of the novel itself. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
“A real New York narrative with an absorbing story line and a gallery of characters fit for a twenty-first-century Manhattan mural.”
“Varied minds and voices are realized so convincingly…and it is joyous despite its subject matter.”
“One of the finest novels we are likely to encounter this year.”
“Vividly captures the diversity and tensions within the AIDS movement…No book has made me feel so intensely not just the ravages of AIDS but also the devastating cost of activism.”
“Powerful and compelling. It feels deeply relevant even when it covers events set several decades in the past.”
“[A] brilliantly sprawling period novel about New York in the age of AIDS…richly populated and delicately nuanced.”
“This sweeping tale of AIDS activists and the incredible changes they inspired is heart-wrenching, hopeful, and beautiful.”
“Murphy has written The Bonfire of the Vanities for the age of AIDS…complete with a pitch-perfect deployment of period detail.”
“Activism, addiction, and the redemptive power of art feature prominently in Murphy’s perceptive novel.”
“An intricate and powerfully plotted novel…it is at its heart a love story.”
“An extended perspective on the HIV/AIDS epidemic…The author is expert at inhabiting a variety of mindsets.”
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