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Joan Silber

Biography

Joan Silber

Joan Silber is the author of 10 books of fiction. Her last book, SECRETS OF HAPPINESS, was a Washington Post and Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year and an O Magazine Most Anticipated Book. Her novel, IMPROVEMENT, was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. She also received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Her book, FOOLS, was long-listed for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Other works include THE SIZE OF THE WORLD, finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and IDEAS OF HEAVEN, finalist for the National Book Award and The Story Prize. She lives in New York and has taught at Sarah Lawrence College and in the Warren Wilson MFA program.

Joan Silber

Books by Joan Silber

by Joan Silber - Fiction, Historical Fiction

In the gritty East Village of 1970s New York, Ivan and his best friend, Eddie, a popular local bartender, are dabbling in drugs following a short tour of Europe. One night, as Ivan and Eddie experiment with heroin, things go horribly wrong. In a panic, Ivan rushes Eddie to a crowded local ER and, believing his friend is about to die, makes the awful choice to leave him there. This one act of abandonment haunts Ivan his entire life. He keeps this secret from his friends and later his family, forever searching for mercy from "a remorse that never dies." Ivan's decision also ripples across time through an extended community, affecting a host of other people unknowingly connected to that night.

by Joan Silber - Fiction, Short Stories

When is it wise to be a fool for something? What makes people want to be better than they are? The characters in Joan Silber’s new story collection tackle this question head-on. Vera, the shy, anarchist daughter of missionary parents, leaves her family for love and activism in New York. A generation later, her own doubting daughter insists on the truth of being of two minds, even in marriage. The adulterous son of a Florida hotel owner steals money from his family and departs for Paris, where he takes up with a young woman and finds himself outsmarted in turn.