The Gin Closet
Chapters (15)
Cover
Praise for
The Gin Closet
“An exquisite blues of a novel. . . . Jamison creates emotionally complex scenes of harsh revelation in language as scorching as the gin Tilly downs. . . . Jamison’s novel of solitary confinement within one’s pain is hauntingly beautiful.”
—Booklist
“Jamison’s beautifully written debut follows independent young New Yorker Stella and her estranged aunt Tilly as they form some version of a family. . . . The relationship between Stella and Tilly is compelling . . . what truly drives the novel is Jamison’s gorgeous prose.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“In this gorgeous first novel, Leslie Jamison tells the tale of women caught in a chaos of drives and desires, seeking new meaning in our most ancient relations. . . . With language as smart and sensuous as you’ll find anywhere, Jamison nails the nervous borders of our new future brilliantly.”
—Charles D’Ambrosio, author of The Dead Fish Museum
“Jamison is no coward . . . she writes courageously about disease, sex and perils of the flesh without flinching . . . brave and bracing . . . she’ll become a strong voice in contemporary fiction.”
—TimeOut New York
“Deft portraits like this will make Jamison a voice to pay attention to in the years to come.”
—Bookforum
“Leslie Jamison’s sentences are like electric shocks; her words are sharply defined razors, cutting a line across the heart. Her writing is sorrowful and sexy; absurd and deliciously dark. The Gin Closet is an impressive debut novel.”
—WETA Book Studio
“I couldn’t put down The Gin Closet, which I read with awe and utter engagement. It reads like a detective novel written by a poet—gorgeous prose and pacing that left my heart pounding. (There’s a furious energy that propels this story.) The characters are unforgettable, and the story of loss and family connection, so freshly told, should touch many readers. Leslie Jamison’s debut novel is astonishing. I say this with complete sincerity.”
—Jane Bernstein, author of Loving Rachel
“Leslie Jamison is a brutal writer—an unflinching, wrenchingly gorgeous writer. . . . Her attention to the sounds of words and the rhythms of sentences is a poet’s attention, this whole stunning novel built, filament by filament, like the most intricate and kaleidoscopic of poems. This novel hurts, and it hurts passionately, and so exquisitely beautifully that it’s impossible to look away.”
—Thisbe Nissen, author of Osprey Island
“Occasionally the literary world is treated to a book that seems to have been written with divine inspiration. This extraordinary debut novel by a new and very young author is just that sort of book. . . . Knowing that authors like Leslie Jamison are out there writing books gives a new dose of hope to American letters.”
—New York Journal of Books
Title Page
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