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Francine Prose

Biography

Francine Prose

Francine Prose is the author of 21 works of fiction including, the highly acclaimed MISTER MONKEY; the New York Times bestseller LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932; A CHANGED MAN, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize; and BLUE ANGEL, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her works of nonfiction include the highly praised ANNE FRANK: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller READING LIKE A WRITER, which has become a classic. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director’s Fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Bard College.

Francine Prose

Books by Francine Prose

by Francine Prose - Fiction, Historical Fiction

It’s 1953, and Simon Putnam has just been hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm. But his first assignment --- editing The Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic, a lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg --- makes him question the cost of admission. Simon has a secret that, at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, he cannot reveal: his beloved mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg’s. As the confluence of sex, money, politics and power spirals out of Simon’s control, he must face what he’s lost by exchanging the loving safety of his middle-class Jewish parents’ Coney Island apartment for the witty, whiskey-soaked orbit of his charismatic boss.

by Francine Prose - Essays, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction

In an age defined by hyper-connectivity and constant stimulation, Francine Prose makes a compelling case for the solitary act of reading and the great enjoyment it brings. WHAT TO READ AND WHY includes selections culled from Prose’s previous essays, reviews and introductions, combined with new, never-before-published pieces that focus on her favorite works of fiction and nonfiction, on works by masters of the short story, and even on books by photographers like Diane Arbus.

by Francine Prose - Fiction

“Mister Monkey” --- a screwball children’s musical about a playfully larcenous pet chimpanzee --- is the kind of family favorite that survives far past its prime. Margot, who plays the chimp’s lawyer, knows the production is dreadful and bemoans the failure of her acting career. She’s settled into the drudgery of playing a humiliating part --- until the day she receives a mysterious letter from an anonymous admirer…and later, in the middle of a performance, has a shocking encounter with Adam, the 12-year-old who plays the title role.

by Francine Prose - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Paris in the 1920s shimmers with excitement, dissipation and freedom. At the Chameleon Club, the striking Lou Villars, an extraordinary athlete and scandalous cross-dressing lesbian, finds refuge among the club’s loyal denizens, including the rising Hungarian photographer Gabor Tsenyi, the socialite and art patron Baroness Lily de Rossignol, and the caustic American writer Lionel Maine. As the years pass, their fortunes --- and the world itself --- evolve.

by Francine Prose - Fiction

Temporarily submerged by our economic woes, the debate over immigration policy simmers just below the surface of American political and social life. In MY NEW AMERICAN LIFE, Francine Prose tells the story of Lula, a savvy young Albanian immigrant trying to gain a foothold in a country that at times seems as strange as her native land.

by Francine Prose

Deliciously risque, Blue Angel is a withering take on today's academic mores and a scathing tale that vividly shows what can happen when academic politics collides with political correctness.