City on Fire
2017 Longlist

City on Fire

ABOUT
THE BOOK

New York City, 1976. Meet Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city’s great fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by downtown’s punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor-and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve.

The mystery, as it reverberates through families, friendships, and the corridors of power, will open up even the loneliest-seeming corners of the crowded city. And when the blackout of July 13, 1977, plunges this world into darkness, each of these lives will be changed forever. City on Fire is an unforgettable novel about love and betrayal and forgiveness, about art and truth and rock ‘n’ roll: about what people need from each other in order to live-and about what makes the living worth doing in the first place.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Garth
Risk Hallberg

Garth Risk Hallberg’s first novel, City on Fire, was a New York Times and international bestseller, has been translated into 17 languages, and was named one of the best books of 2015 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Vogue. He is also the author of a novella, A Field Guide to the North American Family.

A two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s award for Excellence in Reviewing, he lives in New York with his wife and children.

Garth Risk Hallberg’s first novel, City on Fire, was a New York Times and international bestseller, has been translated into 17 languages, and was named one of the best books of 2015 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Vogue. He is also the author of a novella, A Field Guide to the North American Family.

A two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s award for Excellence in Reviewing, he lives in New York with his wife and children.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

A great American novel. Poetic, spectacular and well written.

Hallberg’s enormous novel pulls the reader into 1970s New York City. He amasses characters each piercingly individual. With his range of humanity and his gritty and confounding steeing, he encapsulates the messy relatedness of life.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
26/07/2016
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf

STAY CONNECTED

Stay in touch and sign up to our newsletter to receive all the latest news and updates on the Dublin Literary Award.