Ali Benjamin Reads from The Smash-Up

Damian Barr’s Literary Salon tempts the world’s best writers to read exclusively from their latest greatest works and share their own personal stories. Star guests include Jojo Moyes, John Waters, Yaa Gyasi, Mary Beard, Diana Athill and Louis de Bernières—all in front of a live audience at leading glamorous locations world-wide. Our London home is the Savoy. Suave Salonnière Damian Barr is your host.

We’re delighted to share Ali Benjamin’s exclusive reading from The Smash-Up with you! A novel with rather more than a soupçon of satire, this timely book hones in on a snapshot of history to probe the depths of the culture wars in America. Zo is swept up in the politics of the #MeToo movement, the Kavanaugh hearings, and her duties to the feminist activism group she formed: All Them Witches. Ethan finds himself caught between his home life and the battle to get his livewire daughter, Alex, to sleep.

But life is about to get a little more complicated when he receives a panicked message containing accusations against his former business partner, Randy. A slew of them. Suddenly on the wrong side of the narrative, Ethan is forced to question everything as the family slowly fractures under the pressure.

Published by Riverrun and available now in all good bookshops. We strongly encourage you to buy through your local indie bookshop, but if that’s not possible then you can buy a copy through our shop on Bookshop.org.

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