Brookland A Novel [Paperback]

ANew York Times Book ReviewNotable Book of the Year
ALos Angeles Times Book ReviewFavorite Book of the Year

Since her girlhood, Prudence Winship has gazed across the tidal straits from her home in Brooklyn to the city of Manhattan and yearned to bridge the distance. Now, firmly established as the owner of an enormously successful gin distillery she inherited from her father, she can begin to realize her dream.

Set in eighteenth-century Brooklyn, this is the beautifully written story of a woman with a vision: a gargantuan construction of timber and masonry to span the East River. With the help of her sisters--high-spirited Tem and silent, uncanny Pearl--Prue fires the imaginations of the people of Brooklyn and New York by promising them easy passage between their two worlds.

Brooklandconfirms Emily Barton's reputation as one of the finest writers of her generation, whose work is blessedly post-ironic, engaging and heartfelt (Thomas Pynchon).

Emily Barton's fiction has appeared inStory, American Short Fiction, andConjunctions. Her first novel,The Testament of Yves Gundron,called blessedly post-ironic, engaging, and heartfelt by Thomas Pynchon, won the Bard Fiction Prize and was named aNew York TimesNotable Book of the Year. She is the recipient of a 2006 artist's grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a 2006 fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

About this Guide

The following author biography and list of questions aboutBrooklandare intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approachBrookland.

Discussion Questions

1. How were you affected by the presence ol£(