Bloomsbury to Publish Invitation to a Bonfire by Adrienne Celt
A seductive, sensual and sinister love triangle set in 1930s America and inspired by the infamous Nabokov marriage
Zoya Andropova, a young Russian refugee, finds herself in an elite New Jersey boarding school. Having lost her family, her home and her sense of purpose, Zoya struggles to belong, a task made more difficult by her new country’s paranoia about Soviet spies.
When she meets charismatic fellow Russian émigré Leo Orlov – whose books Zoya has obsessed over for years – everything seems to change. But she soon discovers that Leo is bound by the sinister orchestrations of his brilliant wife, Vera, and that their relationship is far more complex than Zoya could ever have imagined.
- A smart, seductive thriller – the perfect blend of literary meets commercial, and an ideal reading group title
- A brilliantly vivid and atmospheric setting in the form of 1920s Russia and 1930s America
- Adrienne Celt’s debut novel, The Daughters, won the PEN Southwest Book Award for Fiction and was an NPR Best Book of the Year and an NYPL
- Favorite Book of the Year: expect widespread review coverage for this talented American author
- Perfect for fans of Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Reviews
“Engrossing, endearing, phenomenal – this book will set you on fire. In this brilliant novel, Adrienne Celt’s lush prose and mousetrap plot deliver a wild wonder” – Alissa Nutting, author of Tampa and Made for Love
“The way Adrienne Celt so completely inhabits the voices and lives of her characters is an amazing thing to behold. A dazzling stylist and a powerful writer, she has given us a rich, tapestried story of love, loneliness, and betrayal” – Nathan Hill, author of THE NIX
Author’s Bio: Adrienne Celt’s debut novel, The Daughters, won the PEN Southwest Book Award for Fiction and was an NPR Best Book of the Year and an NYPL Favorite Book of the Year. Her story ‘Temples’ was included in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2016. Her work has appeared in Epoch, Zyzzyva, Prairie Schooner, Esquire, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, The Millions, and elsewhere. She has an MFA in fiction from Arizona State University, draws weekly comics at loveamongthelampreys.com and lives in Tucson.