White Fur
A love story of equal parts grit and glamour
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
'A love story of equal parts grit and glamour'
Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of The Language of Flowers
For Elise and Jamey, real love is not all hearts and flowers. It's gritty, transgressive, and infuriating. Jamey belongs to New York's elegant, ferocious elite, and feels 'owned' by his privileged background; Elise is from a mixed-race family and is uncensored, brave, idiosyncratic. They meet by chance and the bond is instant, but the situation quickly spins out of control.
Set against the technicolour landscape of mid-80s New York, White Fur is a tale of money, class, sex and family; it questions what we will do to be free, and what it means to love like we might die tomorrow.
'Brilliantly written and deeply felt'
Philipp Meyer, author of The Son
'[The] poet laureate of late nights and young love'
Ada Calhoun, author of St Marks is Dead
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in the late 1980s, Libaire's novel is an erotic and gritty reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet. When straitlaced Yale student Jamey Hyde meets rough-around-the-edges Elise Perez, the two engage in a hot and heavy relationship that transcends divisions of background and class. At the end of his junior year, Jamey takes a summer internship in New York City and invites Elise to come with him. Despite the numerous social and economic barriers keeping the two apart, their bond intensifies, eventually pushing Jamey to disown his family, sign away his inheritance, and drop out of school before the start of his senior year. With no concrete plans for the future, the two embrace their new life in Manhattan's East Village, fighting internal and external battles along the way. Major plot points leave the reader skeptical, but the novel benefits from the author's deft use of language. Writing with all the senses, Libaire demonstrates an ability to evoke vivid moods and places, drawing a stark and realistic depiction of '80s Manhattan. She also succeeds at giving equal weight and attention to both her protagonists, elegantly toggling between their perspectives. The most lively, memorable, and convincing character in the novel is the setting itself.
