Editorial Content for The Californians
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Reviewer (text)
The fires were 53 years apart and in different locations in California. The source of the latter blaze is debatable, but the one that occurred in 1971 in Palm Springs was deliberately caused with destructive intent. The commonality between these two seemingly unrelated events are the Harlan and Stiegl families.
Klaus von Stiegl (nee Aaronsohn) is a German immigrant whose ambition and family connections get him a job in the movie industry. Success in New York leads to opportunities in Hollywood, where he is soon working at MGM for the tyrannical but influential Louis B. Mayer. Klaus sees himself as an auteur and abhors the control of the studios, so he decides to make a movie on his own, free of any interference. However, a freak accident at his home leads to a scandal that damages his career along with many of his co-workers. Despite the loss of work, Klaus is financially sound as his wife, Olive, hails from an affluent family. The exile from Hollywood irks Klaus, and he comforts himself with copious amounts of liquor while distancing himself from Olive and their son, Percy.
"THE CALIFORNIANS is a superb work from the creative mind of Brian Castleberry.... Castleberry thrives at crafting fascinating characters with narratives worth following from start to finish."
Diane Stiegl is an only child of divorced parents and the sole grandchild of the renowned director Klaus von Stiegl. Her adolescence was marred by her mother’s mental breakdown and her father’s restless nature. When her father, Percy, begins dating Tessa Harlan, she is not enthused. However, Tessa proves to be a surrogate mother in her life, and Diane becomes friends with Tessa’s son, Track. Diane is a talented artist, and Tessa encourages her to pursue her gift. She possesses her grandfather’s independent spirit and hones her craft primarily outside the classroom. By the mid- to late 1980s, Diane is an established name in the art world but risks self-destruction from drug addiction.
Tobey Harlan was pressed for time as he grabbed what he could from his apartment and fled the approaching firestorm. The town of Tinsley is soon to be engulfed in smoke and flames, so Tobey drives south with his ex-girlfriend’s cat and a stranded gentleman he picked up. Tobey considers his options for temporary shelter. A reunion with his father and stepmother in Palm Springs, while unappealing, is more realistic. Life never seems to go as planned, and Tobey wanted to live in Oregon with his girlfriend and a group of like-minded individuals in a collective. While relating his current plight to his stepbrother, James, an idea is suggested for Tobey to improve his situation, a larcenous scheme to nab valuable paintings from Tobey’s father and sell them to James’s boss, a big-tech mogul. The artist’s name is Di Stiegl.
THE CALIFORNIANS is a superb work from the creative mind of Brian Castleberry. The diverging paths of the Stiegl and Harlan families are chronicled over a century, and while the main characters may not share much if any physical space in the story, the work of Klaus and Diane resonate with the aimless Tobey. Family and the dysfunction that often runs deep within them are adeptly explored, whether it be Klaus and his fractured relationship with Percy, Diane’s frustrations with her mother, Antonia, or Tobey’s disengagement from his father. Klaus, Diane and Tobey represent three generations of risk-takers who look to defy others’ expectations, and they often do so, whether it proves to be to their benefit or to their detriment.
Castleberry thrives at crafting fascinating characters with narratives worth following from start to finish.
Teaser
It’s 2024, and Tobey Harlan steals from the wall of his father’s house three paintings by the venerated and controversial artist Di Stiegl. Tobey has just lost everything he owns to a Northern California wildfire, and if he can sell the paintings (albeit in a shady way to a notorious tech bro), he can start life anew in a place no one will ever find him. A hundred years before, German-Jewish immigrant Klaus Aaronsohn inveigles his way into a film studio in Astoria, Queens. He will restyle himself Klaus von Stiegl, a mysterious aristocratic German film director, and end his career directing “Brackett,” a radical, notorious ’60s-era detective show. Weaving between Tobey and Klaus is the story of Diane “Di” Stiegl, Klaus’ granddaughter, raised in Palm Springs, who claws out a career as an artist in gritty 1980s NYC.
Promo
It’s 2024, and Tobey Harlan steals from the wall of his father’s house three paintings by the venerated and controversial artist Di Stiegl. Tobey has just lost everything he owns to a Northern California wildfire, and if he can sell the paintings (albeit in a shady way to a notorious tech bro), he can start life anew in a place no one will ever find him. A hundred years before, German-Jewish immigrant Klaus Aaronsohn inveigles his way into a film studio in Astoria, Queens. He will restyle himself Klaus von Stiegl, a mysterious aristocratic German film director, and end his career directing “Brackett,” a radical, notorious ’60s-era detective show. Weaving between Tobey and Klaus is the story of Diane “Di” Stiegl, Klaus’ granddaughter, raised in Palm Springs, who claws out a career as an artist in gritty 1980s NYC.
About the Book
For fans of TRUST and NORTH WOODS, a daring novel that spans 100 years of American history, from the early days of cinema to the rise of NFTs, about parents and children, the drive to create even in times of crisis and the inheritance of grand western dreams.
It’s 2024, and Tobey Harlan --- college dropout, temporary waiter, recently dumped --- steals from the wall of his father’s house three paintings by the venerated and controversial artist Di Stiegl. Tobey’s just lost everything he owns to a Northern California wildfire, and if he can sell the paintings (albeit in a shady way to a notorious tech bro) he can start life anew in a place no one will ever find him, perhaps even Oregon.
A hundred years before, Klaus Aaronsohn --- German-Jewish immigrant, resident of the Lower East Side --- inveigles his way into a film studio in Astoria, Queens. In love with silent cinema, Klaus will restyle himself Klaus von Stiegl, a mysterious aristocratic German film director. In true Hollywood fashion, he will court fame, fortune, romance and betrayal, and end his career directing "Brackett": a radical, notorious 60s-era detective show.
Weaving between Tobey and Klaus is the story of Diane “Di” Stiegl: Klaus’s granddaughter, raised in Palm Springs, who claws out a career as an artist in gritty 1980s NYC. As America yields the presidency to a Hollywood cowboy, as Diane’s grifter father and free-spirited mother circle in and out of her life, Diane will reflect America’s most urgent and hypocritical years back to itself, uneasily finding critical adoration as well as great fame and wealth.
A dazzling novel for readers of BEAUTIFUL RUINS by Jess Walter and THE CANDY HOUSE by Jennifer Egan, THE CALIFORNIANS is an ambitious and sweeping journey across a century. Nuanced and textured, gloriously funny, a critical portrait of the collective American consciousness that has brought us to today, it showcases Brian Castleberry as an inventive, stylish storyteller and a sharp observer of the human condition.
Audiobook available; read by Micky Shiloah, Rob Shapiro, Nancy Peterson and Jim Meskimen
