Gary Shteyngart with Robert Sindelar — 'Vera, or Faith: A Novel'

Third Place Books welcomes bestselling author Gary Shteyngart to our Lake Forest Park store for a conversation about his latest novel — the poignant, clever tale of a mixed-identity family fighting to stay together in a rapidly fracturing country, as witnessed by their wondrous ten-year-old daughter. Gary will be joined in conversation by Robert Sindelar, managing partner of Third Place Books.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

Having trouble registering? See Eventbrite's troubleshooting FAQ here.

The Bradford-Shmulkin family is falling apart. A very modern blend of Russian, Jewish, Korean, and New England WASP, they love one another deeply but the pressures of life in an unstable America are fraying their bonds. There's Daddy, a struggling, cash-thirsty editor whose Russian heritage gives him a surprising new currency in the upside-down world of twenty-first-century geopolitics; his wife, Anne Mom, a progressive, underfunded blue blood from Boston who's barely holding the household together; their son, Dylan, whose blond hair and Mayflower lineage provide him pride of place in the newly forming American political order; and, above all, the young Vera, half-Jewish, half-Korean, and wholly original.

Observant, sensitive, and always writing down new vocabulary words, Vera wants only three things in life: to make a friend at school; Daddy and Anne Mom to stay together; and to meet her birth mother, Mom Mom, who will at last tell Vera the secret of who she really is and how to ensure love's survival in this great, mad, imploding world.

Both biting and deeply moving, Vera, or Faith is a boldly imagined story of family and country told through the clear and tender eyes of a child. With a nod to What Maisie Knew, Henry James's classic story of parents, children, and the dark ironies of a rapidly transforming society, Vera, or Faith demonstrates why Shteyngart is, in the words of The New York Times, "one of his generation's most exhilarating writers."

Gary Shteyngart was born in Leningrad in 1972 and came to the United States seven years later. His debut novel, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, won the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. Shteyngart’s other novels include: Absurdistan (one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year); Super Sad True Love Story (Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize); and Our Country Friends (New York Times bestseller). His memoir, Little Failure, was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. His most recent novel is Vera, or Faith. His books have been published in thirty countries. He lives in New York with his wife and son.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.

Also check out other Arts events in Lake Forest Park, Literary Art events in Lake Forest Park.