> by heather cook

A Reading With Nancy Reisman

At 7pm on Thursday (7/30) at Talking Leaves, 3158 Main St.

Nancy Reisman grew up in Buffalo, and her first novel, First Desire, is set in the city of her birth. Talking Leaves will be hosting Nancy in order to celebrate publication of her second novel, Trompe L’Oeil, a powerful and moving portrait of a family and of the ways members of the family deal with grief and loss. Join her for an evening of prose and conversation at Talking Leaves on Main Street. You may purchase a copy to be signed.

Reisman

During a vacation in Rome, the Murphy family experiences a life-altering tragedy. In the immediate aftermath, James, Nora, and their children find solace in their Massachusetts coast home, but as the years pass the weight of the loss disintegrates the increasingly fragile marriage and leaves its mark on each family member. Trompe l’Oeil seamlessly alternates among several characters’ points of view, capturing the details of their daily lives as well as their longing for connection and fear of abandonment. Through the turbulence of marriage, the challenges of parenthood, job upheavals, and calamities large and small, the novel examines family legacies, the ways those legacies persist, and the ways they might be transcended.

Julie Myerson of the New York Times reviewed it: “There’s a bright elasticity to Reisman’s prose that only adds to this sense of possibility. Simple observations make striking impressions.” And novelist Ann Hood says, ““What I have always admired about Nancy Reisman’s writing is how absolutely gorgeous it is, and in Trompe l’Oeil her writing astonishes me even more. She writes about the weight of loss with beauty and honesty and grace. Simply a beautiful novel.” Nancy Reisman is a master of psychological insight, creating characters who are especially unique and yet able to express reflections of our own character. Trompe l’Oeil is not a haunting, but is able to haunt the reader with its story and the beauty within loss, hope and fears.

Nancy Reisman’s debut novel, The First Desire, was a New York Times Notable Book and a recipient of the Goldberg Award from the Foundation for Jewish Culture. Her story collection, House Fires, won the Iowa Award for Short Fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Tin House, Glimmer Train, the Yale Review, SubTropics, Michigan Quarterly Review, Kenyon Review, Five Points, Narrative, The Best American Short Stories (2001), and The O’Henry Award Stories (2005). Reisman has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tennessee Commission on the Arts, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She teaches at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, TN.