by Renata Adler
First published 1971
Kate moves through Manhattan in the early 1970s, drifting between relationships and responsibilities that never quite solidify. She works at a magazine where deadlines blur together and colleagues speak in half-finished thoughts. Her apartment becomes a waystation for friends who arrive unannounced and leave without explanation. Phone calls interrupt at odd hours, bringing news that seems important but fades by morning. Kate watches her contemporaries marry and divorce, start careers and abandon them, make declarations they forget by winter. The city changes around her as old buildings fall and new ones rise, but the rhythm of her days remains the same. She attends parties where everyone knows each other but no one seems connected. Men enter her life with promises and exit with apologies. Her family calls from distant suburbs, their voices carrying expectations she cannot meet. As seasons pass, Kate realizes she has been waiting for something to begin, but the year has already ended.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, slice-of-life
Setting: Manhattan
Period: 1970s
383 pages · Paperback · Berkley