A modern retelling of Balzac's classicCousin Betteby one of America's most prolific and significant writers. Earl, a black, gay actor working in a meatpacking plant, and Bette, a white secretary, have lived next door to each other in the same Greenwich Village apartment building for thirty years. Shamed and disowned by their families, both found refuge in New York and in their domestic routine. Everything changes when Hortense, a wealthy young actress from Ohio, comes to the city to make it. Textured with the grit and gloss of midcentury Manhattan,The Cosmopolitansis a lush, inviting read. The truths it frames about the human need for love and recognition remain long after the book is closed.
A modern retelling of Balzac's classicCousin Betteby one of America's most prolific and significant writers. Earl, a black, gay actor working in a meatpacking plant, and Bette, a white secretary, have lived next door to each other in the same Greenwich Village apartment building for thirty years. Shamed and disowned by their families, both found refuge in New York and in their domestic routine. Everything changes when Hortense, a wealthy young actress from Ohio, comes to the city to make it. Textured with the grit and gloss of midcentury Manhattan,The Cosmopolitansis a lush, inviting read. The truths it frames about the human need for love and recognition remain long after the book is closed.
A rich evocation of its time and place... Simultaneously a realist exploration of a particular milieu, an illustration of the changing roles and possibilities for women at that time, and a series of thoughtful musings on the nature of companionship and platonic love, Earl and Bette's story is also a satisfying revenge narrative and a portrait of an unexpected but vital friendship. Publishers Weekly(starred review)
Style and setting allow beauty to intrude on this story of lolS$
![The Cosmopolitans [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/2/9/6/2_157860.jpg)