We're thrilled to welcome acclaimed playwright, lyricist, and debut novelist Cary Gitter to Secret World Books in celebration of his first novel, Cammy Sitting Shiva. This stirring book is an unflinching, darkly funny look at loss, family, and coming home—perfect for fans of This Is Where I Leave You and Competitive Grieving.
When Cy Adler dies, it’s a shock to everyone, especially his daughter, Cammy. Almost thirty, slightly aimless, and stuck in a basement apartment in Queens, she’s forced to return to River Hill, her one-square-mile New Jersey hometown, to sit shiva. Cammy’s fraught relationship with her mother, Beth, has never been easy. And now, with her beloved father gone, she would rather be anywhere but back in her childhood room, in a house filled with guests noshing on snacks and offering their condolences. So Cammy does whatever she can to make it through seven turbulent days of mourning.
Amid getting stoned, reconnecting with her best friend and her high school crush, evading the rabbi, and spending a debauched night in Atlantic City, Cammy must reckon with her roots—with the place she fled for the glamour of New York, where she thought she belonged. But is she really any better off than those she left behind? While navigating the swirl of emotions that accompany grief, Cammy also uncovers hidden truths about her father, which lead her to doubt how well she knew the man she adored. Then again, does she even know herself?
Fueled by wry, lively prose, Cammy Sitting Shiva is a deeply relatable fish-out-of-water story, grappling with how it feels to be adrift and to find that a hard trip home may be what it takes to anchor you.
Cary will be joined in conversation by friend (and favorite) of Secret World, Beth Kander. Beth's instant USA Today bestseller I Made It Out of Clay is a darkly funny and surprisingly sweet novel in which a woman creates a golem in a desperate attempt to pretend her life is a rom-com rather than a disaster.
We're so excited for this conversation about Jewish grief, Jewish humor, and so much more, and hope you can join us!
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