Golden Country

A Novel

Jennifer Gilmore

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN:
  9780743288637
• eBook ISBN:
  9781416540984
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

Golden Country, Jennifer Gilmore's masterful and irreverent reinvention of the Jewish American novel, captures the exuberance of the American dream while exposing its underbelly -- disillusionment, greed, and the disaffection bred by success. As Gilmore's charmingly flawed characters witness and shape history, they come to embody America's greatness, as well as its greatest imperfections. Spanning the first half of the twentieth century, Golden Country vividly brings to life the intertwining stories of three immigrants seeking their fortunes -- the handsome and ambitious Seymour, a salesman-turned-gangster-turned-Broadway-producer; the gentle and pragmatic Joseph, a door-to-door salesman who is driven to invent a cleanser effective enough to wipe away the shame of his brother's mob connections; and the irresistible Frances Gold, who grows up in Brooklyn, stars in Seymour's first show, and marries the man who invents television. Their three families, though inex-tricably connected for years, are brought together for the first time by the engagement of Seymour's son and Joseph's daughter. David and Miriam's marriage must endure the inheritance of not only their parents' wealth but also the burdens of their past. Epic and comic, poignant and wise, Golden Country introduces readers to an extraordinary new voice in fiction.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Chapter 1Irving Berlin! 1957
• Chapter 2Chemistry: Joseph Brodsky, 1925–1938
• Chapter 3Prospects: Seymour Bloom, 1925–1937
• Chapter 4Reading: Frances Verdonik, 1925
• Chapter 5Electricity: Joseph Brodsky, 1931
• Chapter 6Irrevocability: Seymour Bloom, 1928
• Chapter 7Peppermints: Frances Gold, 1925
• Chapter 8Caught: Seymour Bloom, 1929
• Chapter 9Eyes: Frances Gold, 1929
• Chapter 10Currency, Investing, 1929
• Chapter 11The Joint: 1931
• Chapter 12Fleeing: 1934
• Chapter 13Iconography of Hope: Joseph and Seymour, 1939
• Chapter 14Taken: David Bloom and Miriam Brodsky, 1945
• Chapter 15Star Quality: Essoil, 1946
• Chapter 16Charmed: Miriam and David, 1948–1957
• Chapter 17Honeymoons, 1957
• Chapter 18Thanksgiving: Brodsky, Verdonik, Bloom, 1960
• Chapter 19Sundowning: Sarah Bloom, 1960
• Chapter 20Selling: Essoil, 1960
• Chapter 21Skin: The Ensemble, 1962
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author