Parnassus Books is pleased to welcome Adria Bernardi to celebrate her new book, Benefit Street.
This is a free event which will take place IN STORE on Wednesday, August 17th at 6:30pm Central Time. Because space will be limited, registration is required to attend this event. Please register for free by filling out the form below! (Note: If for any reason you need to cancel your registration, please call the store at 615-953-2243 at least 24 hours before the event so your space can be provided to another guest.) Masks are strongly encouraged during this event.
About the Book
For nearly two decades, Şiva has met after work on Tuesdays with four friends at a teahouse called the Kafiye. In interrupted conversations, the women explore what it is to live engaged lives inside and outside the home. Amidst joking and complaints, while drinking too much tea and eating too many sweets, they tell of their days: a son's ninth birthday, the bruise on the arm of an aging parent, soldiers stationed outside the school, the funeral of an opposition political leader killed in a mysterious car accident.
Set in an unnamed provincial capital of an unnamed country, Benefit Street tells of a wide circle of friends--teachers, lawyers, missionaries, doctors, artisans--in a time of gathering and dispersal. It tells the story of mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, colleagues, and neighbors, as war to the East threatens and constitutional rights are daily eroded by an increasingly authoritarian regime.
The ideals of youth, freedom, and coexistence are severely tested with the shocking revelation that the charismatic leader of their group has sexually abused the women under his care. The limits of reconciliation are tested as Şiva makes an arduous journey into the mountains to meet an estranged mother with a genius for weaving complex rugs.
About the Author
Adria Bernardi is a writer and translator whose publications include an oral history, a collection of literary essays, a collection of short stories, two novels, and eight translations from the Italian. Her work has been awarded the Bakeless Prize for Fiction, the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, and the Raiziss/DePalchi Translation Award. Her novel, Benefit Street, was awarded the 2021 FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Award and is forthcoming in August from The University of Alabama Press. She lives in Nashville.
