Author Talk: Amy Bloom, "I'll Be Right Here"

Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome back author Amy Bloom, who will discuss her new book, I'll Be Right Here. The novel, which spans from World War II to the 21st century, tackles the complexity and richness of humanity and the often mysterious ways we live as we love, and hope to be loved in return.

Amy will be in conversation with local writer, Page Berger.

About the Book

Immigrating alone from Paris to New York after the crucible of World War II, young Gazala becomes friends with two spirited sisters, Anne and Alma. When Gazala’s lost, beloved brother, Samir, joins her in Manhattan, this contentious, inseparable foursome makes their way into the twenty-first century, becoming the beating heart of a multigenerational found family.

The passing years are marked by the business of everyday existence and the inevitable surprises of erupting passions, of great and small waves of joy and despair, from the beginning of life to its end. Gazala and Samir make a home together, Anne leaves her husband for his sister, and Anne’s restless daughter grows up to raise a child on her own and to join a throuple, becoming who she wants to be. Through it all, amid the tumult of these decades, the four friends and their best beloveds stand by one another, protecting, annoying, and celebrating themselves, steadfastly unapologetic about their desires and the unorthodox family they have created. As the next generation falls in and out of love, experiencing triumphs, mistakes and disappointments, the central pillars of their lives are the four indomitable elders they call the “Greats.”

About Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom is the author of numerous novels including White Houses, Lucky Us, Away, Love Invents Us, In Love, the newly published I'll Be Right Here; and three collections of short stories: Where the God Of Love Hangs Out, Come to Me (finalist for the National Book Award), and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You (finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award). 

She has written for magazines such as The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, O Magazine, Vogue, Elle, The Atlantic, Slate, and Salon. She has won a National Magazine Award for Fiction. 

Amy Bloom’s short stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and numerous anthologies here and abroad. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages.

She has written many pilot scripts for cable and network, and she created, wrote and ran the excellent, short-lived series State of Mind, starring Lili Taylor.

Amy resides in Connecticut and recently retired as Wesleyan University’s Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing, She continues to work as a psychotherapist and a novelist.

About Page Berger

Page Berger is a freelance ghostwriter and writer who pens the bi-weekly Four Top newsletter. She graduated cum laude from Davidson College and earned master’s degrees from Middlebury's Bread Loaf School of English, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Page held positions at the Robin Hood Foundation and Teach For America and worked for several years as the marketing and event director at Barrett Bookstore. Page’s passion lies in fostering community and connection through conversation and storytelling. Learn more at her website.