Tue April 30, 2024
9th Ave: Sylvia Brownrigg with Anne Raeff
at Green Apple Books on the Park
(7pm-8pm)
Join us on Tuesday, April 30 at 7pm PT when Sylvia Brownrigg joins us for the release of her memoir, The Whole Staggering Mystery: A Story of Fathers Lost and Found, with Anne Raeff at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Whole Staggering Mystery
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is a remarkable achievement. Spanning decades and continents, yet psychologically intimate and precise, bringing to vivid life the unforgettable characters that people Sylvia Brownrigg's family, this haunting book offers at once the satisfaction of memoir and the revelations of fiction." --Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is just that: at its heart is the secret of Brownrigg's particular family--which takes us from Northern California to New Mexico, to England, Asia and East Africa, from the 1810s to the 1930s to the 1960s straight through to today. But there is also the universal tangle of fathers and sons, dads and daughters: the possibility and impossibility we all feel of knowing and understanding and healing our pasts, of making peace with those who have gone before, or at least making peace with ourselves. Brownrigg tells it all in prose that is gorgeous and wry, slipping seamlessly between the real and the imagined, layering stories--which, in the end, are all we have--upon stories, to arrive at something that feels deeply, urgently true." --Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex and Cinderella Ate My Daughter
"Engrossing . . . Brownrigg's skillful interweaving of slippery narrative threads adds up to an immersive reading experience." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
About The Whole Staggering Mystery
Sylvia Brownrigg's "wise, intimate, and deliciously entertaining memoir" (Carol Edgarian) reconstructs a poignant story of fathers lost and found.
When Sylvia Brownrigg received a package addressed to her father that had been lost for over fifty years, she wanted to deliver it to him before it was too late. She did not expect that her father, Nick, would choose not to open it. A few years later, she and her brother finally did.
Nick, an absent father, was a would-be writer and back-to-the-lander who lived off the grid in Northern California. Nick's own father, Gawen--also absent--had been a wellborn Englishman who wrote a Bloomsbury-like novel about lesbian lovers, before moving to Kenya and ultimately dying a mysterious death at age twenty-seven. Brownrigg was told Gawen had likely died by suicide.
Reconstructing Gawen's short, colorful life from revelations in the package takes her through glamorous 1930s London and staid Pasadena, toward the last gasp of the British Empire in Kenya, and from there, deep into the California redwoods, where Nick later carved out a rugged path in the wilderness, keeping his English past at bay. Vividly weaving together the lives of her father and grandfather, through memory and imagination, Brownrigg explores issues of sexuality and silences, and childhoods fractured by divorce. In her uncovering of this lost family, she writes movingly of daughterhood and of parenthood, gradually making her own story whole.
About Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction, including the novels Morality Tale; The Delivery Room, winner of the Northern California Book Award; Pages for You, winner of the Lambda Award; and The Metaphysical Touch; and a collection of stories, Ten Women Who Shook the World. Brownrigg's works have been included in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times lists of notable fictions and have been translated into several languages. Her novel for children, Kepler's Dream, written under the name Juliet Bell was published in 2012 and turned into a feature film. Brownrigg lives with her family in London and in Berkeley, California.
show less
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Whole Staggering Mystery
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is a remarkable achievement. Spanning decades and continents, yet psychologically intimate and precise, bringing to vivid life the unforgettable characters that people Sylvia Brownrigg's family, this haunting book offers at once the satisfaction of memoir and the revelations of fiction." --Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is just that: at its heart is the secret of Brownrigg's particular family--which takes us from Northern California to New Mexico, to England, Asia and East Africa, from the 1810s to the 1930s to the 1960s straight through to today. But there is also the universal tangle of fathers and sons, dads and daughters: the possibility and impossibility we all feel of knowing and understanding and healing our pasts, of making peace with those who have gone before, or at least making peace with ourselves. Brownrigg tells it all in prose that is gorgeous and wry, slipping seamlessly between the real and the imagined, layering stories--which, in the end, are all we have--upon stories, to arrive at something that feels deeply, urgently true." --Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex and Cinderella Ate My Daughter
"Engrossing . . . Brownrigg's skillful interweaving of slippery narrative threads adds up to an immersive reading experience." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
About The Whole Staggering Mystery
Sylvia Brownrigg's "wise, intimate, and deliciously entertaining memoir" (Carol Edgarian) reconstructs a poignant story of fathers lost and found.
When Sylvia Brownrigg received a package addressed to her father that had been lost for over fifty years, she wanted to deliver it to him before it was too late. She did not expect that her father, Nick, would choose not to open it. A few years later, she and her brother finally did.
Nick, an absent father, was a would-be writer and back-to-the-lander who lived off the grid in Northern California. Nick's own father, Gawen--also absent--had been a wellborn Englishman who wrote a Bloomsbury-like novel about lesbian lovers, before moving to Kenya and ultimately dying a mysterious death at age twenty-seven. Brownrigg was told Gawen had likely died by suicide.
Reconstructing Gawen's short, colorful life from revelations in the package takes her through glamorous 1930s London and staid Pasadena, toward the last gasp of the British Empire in Kenya, and from there, deep into the California redwoods, where Nick later carved out a rugged path in the wilderness, keeping his English past at bay. Vividly weaving together the lives of her father and grandfather, through memory and imagination, Brownrigg explores issues of sexuality and silences, and childhoods fractured by divorce. In her uncovering of this lost family, she writes movingly of daughterhood and of parenthood, gradually making her own story whole.
About Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction, including the novels Morality Tale; The Delivery Room, winner of the Northern California Book Award; Pages for You, winner of the Lambda Award; and The Metaphysical Touch; and a collection of stories, Ten Women Who Shook the World. Brownrigg's works have been included in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times lists of notable fictions and have been translated into several languages. Her novel for children, Kepler's Dream, written under the name Juliet Bell was published in 2012 and turned into a feature film. Brownrigg lives with her family in London and in Berkeley, California.
Join us on Tuesday, April 30 at 7pm PT when Sylvia Brownrigg joins us for the release of her memoir, The Whole Staggering Mystery: A Story of Fathers Lost and Found, with Anne Raeff at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Whole Staggering Mystery
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is a remarkable achievement. Spanning decades and continents, yet psychologically intimate and precise, bringing to vivid life the unforgettable characters that people Sylvia Brownrigg's family, this haunting book offers at once the satisfaction of memoir and the revelations of fiction." --Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is just that: at its heart is the secret of Brownrigg's particular family--which takes us from Northern California to New Mexico, to England, Asia and East Africa, from the 1810s to the 1930s to the 1960s straight through to today. But there is also the universal tangle of fathers and sons, dads and daughters: the possibility and impossibility we all feel of knowing and understanding and healing our pasts, of making peace with those who have gone before, or at least making peace with ourselves. Brownrigg tells it all in prose that is gorgeous and wry, slipping seamlessly between the real and the imagined, layering stories--which, in the end, are all we have--upon stories, to arrive at something that feels deeply, urgently true." --Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex and Cinderella Ate My Daughter
"Engrossing . . . Brownrigg's skillful interweaving of slippery narrative threads adds up to an immersive reading experience." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
About The Whole Staggering Mystery
Sylvia Brownrigg's "wise, intimate, and deliciously entertaining memoir" (Carol Edgarian) reconstructs a poignant story of fathers lost and found.
When Sylvia Brownrigg received a package addressed to her father that had been lost for over fifty years, she wanted to deliver it to him before it was too late. She did not expect that her father, Nick, would choose not to open it. A few years later, she and her brother finally did.
Nick, an absent father, was a would-be writer and back-to-the-lander who lived off the grid in Northern California. Nick's own father, Gawen--also absent--had been a wellborn Englishman who wrote a Bloomsbury-like novel about lesbian lovers, before moving to Kenya and ultimately dying a mysterious death at age twenty-seven. Brownrigg was told Gawen had likely died by suicide.
Reconstructing Gawen's short, colorful life from revelations in the package takes her through glamorous 1930s London and staid Pasadena, toward the last gasp of the British Empire in Kenya, and from there, deep into the California redwoods, where Nick later carved out a rugged path in the wilderness, keeping his English past at bay. Vividly weaving together the lives of her father and grandfather, through memory and imagination, Brownrigg explores issues of sexuality and silences, and childhoods fractured by divorce. In her uncovering of this lost family, she writes movingly of daughterhood and of parenthood, gradually making her own story whole.
About Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction, including the novels Morality Tale; The Delivery Room, winner of the Northern California Book Award; Pages for You, winner of the Lambda Award; and The Metaphysical Touch; and a collection of stories, Ten Women Who Shook the World. Brownrigg's works have been included in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times lists of notable fictions and have been translated into several languages. Her novel for children, Kepler's Dream, written under the name Juliet Bell was published in 2012 and turned into a feature film. Brownrigg lives with her family in London and in Berkeley, California.
read more
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Whole Staggering Mystery
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is a remarkable achievement. Spanning decades and continents, yet psychologically intimate and precise, bringing to vivid life the unforgettable characters that people Sylvia Brownrigg's family, this haunting book offers at once the satisfaction of memoir and the revelations of fiction." --Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs
"The Whole Staggering Mystery is just that: at its heart is the secret of Brownrigg's particular family--which takes us from Northern California to New Mexico, to England, Asia and East Africa, from the 1810s to the 1930s to the 1960s straight through to today. But there is also the universal tangle of fathers and sons, dads and daughters: the possibility and impossibility we all feel of knowing and understanding and healing our pasts, of making peace with those who have gone before, or at least making peace with ourselves. Brownrigg tells it all in prose that is gorgeous and wry, slipping seamlessly between the real and the imagined, layering stories--which, in the end, are all we have--upon stories, to arrive at something that feels deeply, urgently true." --Peggy Orenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Girls & Sex and Cinderella Ate My Daughter
"Engrossing . . . Brownrigg's skillful interweaving of slippery narrative threads adds up to an immersive reading experience." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
About The Whole Staggering Mystery
Sylvia Brownrigg's "wise, intimate, and deliciously entertaining memoir" (Carol Edgarian) reconstructs a poignant story of fathers lost and found.
When Sylvia Brownrigg received a package addressed to her father that had been lost for over fifty years, she wanted to deliver it to him before it was too late. She did not expect that her father, Nick, would choose not to open it. A few years later, she and her brother finally did.
Nick, an absent father, was a would-be writer and back-to-the-lander who lived off the grid in Northern California. Nick's own father, Gawen--also absent--had been a wellborn Englishman who wrote a Bloomsbury-like novel about lesbian lovers, before moving to Kenya and ultimately dying a mysterious death at age twenty-seven. Brownrigg was told Gawen had likely died by suicide.
Reconstructing Gawen's short, colorful life from revelations in the package takes her through glamorous 1930s London and staid Pasadena, toward the last gasp of the British Empire in Kenya, and from there, deep into the California redwoods, where Nick later carved out a rugged path in the wilderness, keeping his English past at bay. Vividly weaving together the lives of her father and grandfather, through memory and imagination, Brownrigg explores issues of sexuality and silences, and childhoods fractured by divorce. In her uncovering of this lost family, she writes movingly of daughterhood and of parenthood, gradually making her own story whole.
About Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Brownrigg is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction, including the novels Morality Tale; The Delivery Room, winner of the Northern California Book Award; Pages for You, winner of the Lambda Award; and The Metaphysical Touch; and a collection of stories, Ten Women Who Shook the World. Brownrigg's works have been included in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times lists of notable fictions and have been translated into several languages. Her novel for children, Kepler's Dream, written under the name Juliet Bell was published in 2012 and turned into a feature film. Brownrigg lives with her family in London and in Berkeley, California.
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