Jennifer Egan, Manhattan Beach

Thursday, June 7, 2018 – 7:00pm

Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan to town for a reading and signing of her fantastic novel, Manhattan Beach. Tickets for this special offsite event (at Peace United Church) are on sale below and at Bookshop Santa Cruz. This event is cosponsored by The Humanities Institute UC Santa Cruz and KAZU.

Arrive early and join us for a wine reception at 6:30!

Ticket packages are $20 and include one paperback copy of Manhattan Beach (paperback release: June 5th). A companion ticket (event only, no book included) is available for $7 when purchasing a ticket package. PURCHASE TICKETS BELOW OR AT BOOKSHOP SANTA CRUZ.

“Manhattan Beach is stunning. Read the first page and sigh with immense pleasure at having started something magnificent.” —Melinda, Bookshop Head Book Buyer 

MANHATTAN BEACH:

Anna Kerrigan, nearly twelve years old, accompanies her father to visit Dexter Styles, a man who, she gleans, is crucial to the survival of her father and her family. She is mesmerized by the sea beyond the house and by some charged mystery between the two men.

Years later, her father has disappeared and the country is at war. Anna works at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where women are allowed to hold jobs that once belonged to men, now soldiers abroad. She becomes the first female diver, the most dangerous and exclusive of occupations, repairing the ships that will help America win the war. One evening at a nightclub, she meets Dexter Styles again, and begins to understand the complexity of her father’s life, the reasons he might have vanished.

“A magnificent achievement, at once a suspenseful noir intrigue and a transporting work of lyrical beauty and emotional heft” ( The Boston Globe), “Egan’s first foray into historical fiction makes you forget you’re reading historical fiction at all” ( Elle). Manhattan Beach takes us into a world populated by gangsters, sailors, divers, bankers, and union men in a dazzling, propulsive exploration of a transformative moment in the lives and identities of women and men, of America and the world.

Jennifer Egan is the author of five previous books of fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Keep; the story collection Emerald City; Look at Me, a National Book Award Finalist; and The Invisible Circus. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine.

The Humanities Institute, UC Santa Cruz, event cosponsor: The Humanities Instituteis a hub for academic research, cross-discipline collaboration, and public engagement. We incubate ideas and foster innovation by funding projects, centers, and research clusters that enable faculty and students to work on some of the biggest problems of our day.

KAZU, event cosponsor: 90.3 KAZU NPR for Monterey, Salinas, and Santa Cruz. KAZU’s mission is to serve the communities in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties by broadcasting local, national and international news and cultural programming that informs and enriches the lives of its listeners.

Jennifer Egan Book & Ticket Package

$20.00

SKU: EGAN1FOR1

Companion TicketNo Companion TicketPlease add one Companion Ticket to my Ticket Package Purchase

You may choose to purchase one additional companion ticket with your purchase of an event ticket package.

Manhattan Beach—GET IT SIGNED!

$17.00

SKU: S9781476716749

Name (optional)

If you cannot attend this event, you can still have a copy of Manhattan Beach signed at the event. Books must be paid for in advance and can either be shipped or held for pick-up in the store. Internet orders must be placed by Wednesday, June 6th. After that, please call the store to inquire about signed editions.

Most authors will be happy to add a name to their signature, but this service is at their discretion and isn’t guaranteed.