Neon in Daylight (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781936787753)

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"A radiant first novel. . . . [Neon in Daylight] has antecedents in the great novels of the 1970s: Renata Adler's Speedboat, Elizabeth Hardwick's Sleepless Nights, Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays. . . . Precision--of observation, of language--is Hoby's gift. Her sentences are sleek and tailored. Language molds snugly to thought." --Parul Sehgal, The New York Times

New York City in 2012, the sweltering summer before Hurricane Sandy hits. Kate, a young woman newly arrived from England, is staying in a Manhattan apartment while she tries to figure out her future. She has two unfortunate responsibilities during her time in America: to make regular Skype calls to her miserable boyfriend back home, and to cat-sit an indifferent feline named Joni Mitchell.

The city has other plans for her. In New York's parks and bodegas, its galleries and performance spaces, its bars and clubs crowded with bodies, Kate encounters two strangers who will transform her stay: Bill, a charismatic but embittered writer made famous by the movie version of his only novel; and Inez, his daughter, a recent high school graduate who supplements her Bushwick cafe salary by enacting the fantasies of men she meets on Craigslist. Unmoored from her old life, Kate falls into an infatuation with both of them.

Set in a heatwave that feels like it will never break, Neon In Daylight marries deep intelligence with captivating characters to offer us a joyful, unflinching exploration of desire, solitude, and the thin line between life and art.

Author: Hermione Hoby
ISBN-10: 193678775X
ISBN-13: 9781936787753
Publisher: Catapult
Language: English
Published: 01/09/2018
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2017
Publishers Weekly 10/16/2017
Booklist 11/01/2017 pg. 31
Library Journal 12/01/2017