06-Dec-2005
Dear Friends & Readers,
Adriane Gelki, assistant director of the Baltimore Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Enhancement, has braved more than her share of tragedy and disappointment. In anticipation of the new millennium and her thirtieth birthday, she decides to reinvent herself and live with carefree abandon—a worthy goal that seems to go wrong at every turn.
That’s the premise of my new novel-in-stories Adriane on the Edge, out today from Berkley Books (Penguin/Putnam). Adriane was a minor character in my previous novel Garrett in Wedlock. But long before I'd finished writing that earlier book, she began making noises about getting a novel of her own. “I need more than this one chapter,” she argued. “Let’s not kid ourselves; I need a trilogy.”
In Adriane on the Edge, her dogged pursuit of abandon leads Adriane to get arrested for flashing an undercover cop, to accidentally break her court-appointed therapist’s ribs, and to ruin an otherwise perfectly pleasant orgy. Throughout such misadventures she manages to care for an adopted sheltie—whom she must smuggle in and out of her no-pets building—and keep up her lucrative sports betting enterprise, all the while continuing to struggle with the big existential questions: “How do I make meaningful use of my brief time on earth?” “Why aren't relationships easier?” “What the hell is wrong with me?”
I hope you'll look for Adriane on the Edge at your favorite bookstore, share this notice with a friend, and visit my web site for upcoming bookstore events & other info. Lastly, Adriane insists I add that she sees no reason why her life story shouldn't make for a fine holiday present.
“Mandelbaum has a gift for turning tragedy into a strange kind of comedy; his tales of Adriane's often bumbling exploits are both touching and amusing. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
"Highly amusing, wholly entertaining.... Long live Adriane!" —Booklist
visit www.paulmandelbaum.com
Cheers!
p
