KueNSTLERS IN PARADISE

For readers of Anita Diamant, Georgia Hunter, Maggie Shipstead, and Ann Patchett, KueNSTLERS IN PARADISE is a comedy of generational manners that glides between 1939 and 2020 L.A.

A long time ago, eleven-year-old Mamie Kuenstler lived with her family in the fairytale city of Vienna until they were forced to flee to a new and jarring but wondrous realm, Los Angeles, in 1939. There, the Kuenstlers joined the large collection of directors, actors, writers, and composers who held court in Hollywood's exile kingdom.

Fast forward several decades, it's 2020, and Mamie once again finds herself in a changed world. Her grandson, Julian, comes for a visit and is himself confined to Los Angeles by the COVID-19 lockdown. As Mamie entertains her new roommate with stories of her adventures with the émigré elite like Schoenberg, Mann, Brecht, and Greta Garbo, Julian reckons with his own reality and the life he thought he wanted.

Cathleen Schine's writing has been hailed as “sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious and deeply affecting” by the New York Times, and those qualities stand out more than ever in Kuenstlers in Paradise. Here, Schine weaves together the story of a family of Jewish emigres just after they fled from Vienna to LA in the 1930s and life in the pandemic to craft a beautiful, often humorous, examination of the identities we inherit and assume and what it means to be displaced. Kuenstlers in Paradise is the coming of age story of an indecisive young man and his eccentric, worldly grandmother both discovering that history does not end.
Cathleen Schine is the author of The Grammarians, The Three Weissmanns of Westport, and The Love Letter, among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review. She lives in Los Angeles.
Previous praise:
"Schine's warmth and wisdom about how families work and don't work are as reliable as her wry humor, and we often get both together . . . This impossibly endearing and clever novel sets off a depth charge of emotion and meaning." —Kirkus (starred review)

"Schine's sparkling latest [is] both a fizzy exploration of the difficulties of separating from one's closest ally and a quirky meditation on the limits of language for understanding the world." —Publishers Weekly

"Captivating . . . written with the tender precision and clarity of a painting by Vermeer . . . [a] wry and elegant novel." —Ann Levin, Associated Press

"A delightful new novel . . . Schine takes her readers on deep philosophical dives but resurfaces with craft and humor; her tone is amused and amusing." —Susan Dominus, The New York Times Book Review

“The mother of the beguilingly unusual twins whose lives unfold in this sublime comic novel could not adore them more than I do. A singular delight for anyone who has ever marveled at the quirks and beauties and frustrations of English grammar, and a fascinating portrait of the passions and dramas of fierce familial love.” —Sigrid Nunez, National Book Award–winning author of The Friend

"This tale of twins who "elbow each other out of the way in the giant womb of the world" is smart, buoyant and bookish — in the best sense of the word." —Heller McAlpin, NPR

"The Grammarians, is a rich study of the factions that attempt to define how language should be used."—Lauren Leibowitz, The New Yorker