Heather Abel // The Optimistic Decade

Heather Abel will read from her just-released novel, The Optimistic Decade. The Optimistic Decade has received praise from the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, New York Magazine, BBC, People Magazine, EW.com, Buzzfeed, NY Post, Library Journal. Bookpage says: “The Optimistic Decade deserves the elusive accolade of “original” for its believable construction and flawless attention to detail. Within the brilliant, multilayered canopy of the novel’s world, Heather Abel’s writing comes across as a sincere and tender channel for a story that must be told.

Buzzfeed says: “I loved every minute I spent reading Heather Abel’s The Optimistic Decade, a sharply rendered portrait of the United States in 1990. The novel is rich in the conflicting energies of the time — lingering resentments from the previous decade’s stark class divisions, a renewed hope for the decade to come — and these clashes are played out over the course of one summer at a Colorado camp. … The result is an exuberant and nonjudgmental examination of the unique conflicts of the era.”

Pittsburg Post-Gazette says: Writing with both warmth and incisiveness, Ms. Abel has crafted an engaging look at idealism and the difficulties in maintaining it…The Optimistic Decade is an exceptionally timely look at what it means to be politically aware and reminds readers of the intoxicating power of idealism, particularly when we find ourselves on the precipice of independence.”

More info here: http://heatherabel.com/reviews/