Jennifer Egan — Photo: Jon Tjhia
Jennifer Egan is one of America’s most acclaimed and least predictable novelists.
Egan’s most famous book – the virtuosic, Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad – took the form of 13 interlocking stories set in the dying days of the music industry, with one chapter presented in the form of a powerpoint presentation. Her latest novel, Manhattan Beach, is a work of historical fiction set in the Brooklyn Naval Yard in World War II.
An engrossing story replete with lush imagery and crackling wit, Manhattan Beach showcases the narrative energy and expansive style that have made Egan a leading American novelist of her generation. It is also the result of painstaking research. Egan spent eight years learning about American wartime naval history and interviewing veteran divers – even going so far as to try on a 90-kilogram World War II diving suit herself.
At the Athenaeum Theatre with Michael Williams, she discusses history, hope and American upheaval.
Michael Williams and Jennifer Egan — Photo: Jon Tjhia
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