Mona Acts Out

“What a treat, what an absolute delight this warm, funny novel is. … [Berlinski]’s written a sharp analysis of something dark, and he’s made it a pure pleasure to read.”—Constance Grady, Vox


“The journey of Mona Acts Out is insightfully, entertainingly multitudinous."—Laura Collins-Hughes, New York Times


"Extravagantly brilliant and darkly funny.”—Ann Levin, Associated Press


"Rhapsodic and enlightening about Shakespeare, full of fun on every page, Mischa Berlinski’s Mona Acts Out is an early literary delight of 2025."—Marion Winik, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"Sharp-witted and weighty. …Berlinski deserves a standing ovation for this bravura performance."—Publishers Weekly

Celebrated stage actress Mona Zahid wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to the clamor of guests packed into her Manhattan apartment and to a wave of dread: her in-laws are lurking on the other side of the bedroom door; she’s still fighting with her husband; and in just a few weeks she will begin rehearsals as Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, the hardest role in theater. In an impulsive burst, Mona bounds out the door with the family dog in tow (“I forgot the parsley!” is her lame excuse) to find her estranged mentor, Milton Katz, who was recently forced out of the legendary theater company he founded amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Mona’s escape turns into an overnight adventure that brings her face-to-face with her past, with her creative power and its limitations, and ultimately, with all the people she has ever loved.

Beguilingly approachable and intricately constructed, at once funny and sad and wise, Mona Acts Out is a novel about acting and telling the truth, about how we play roles to get through our days, and how the great roles teach us how to live.