Felicia Berliner & Susan Coll: A Conversation

Felicia Berliner is the author of Shmutz: A Novel (Atria Books). It is her first novel. She grew up in Los Angeles and attended yeshiva high school. Shmutz tells the story of Raizl, who – like the other women in her Brooklyn Hasidic community – expects to find a husband through an arranged marriage. Unlike the other women, however, Raizl has a secret. With a hidden computer to help her complete her college degree, she falls down the slippery slope of online pornography. As she dives deeper into the world of porn at night, her daytime life begins to unravel. Between combative visits with her shrink to complicated arranged dates, Raizl must balance her growing understanding of her sexuality with the more conventional expectations of the family she loves. Shmutz explores what it means to be a fully realized sexual and spiritual being caught between traditional and modern worlds.

Susan Coll is the author of five previous novels, including The Stager and Acceptance. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, the Washingtonian, and Moment, and on NPR and Atlantic.com. Bookish People (Harper Muse) is a screwball comedy featuring a cast of oblivious authors, overqualified booksellers, and a Russian tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Consider independent bookstore owner Sophie Bernstein. She’s burned out on books, mourning the death of her husband, the loss of her favorite manager, the lack of aspiration in her only child, and the grim state of the world. No wonder she’s fantasizing about hiding in her store’s secret back room. Renowned poet Raymond Chaucer has published a new collection, but rumors that he’s to blame for his wife’s suicide have led to national cancellations of his publicity tour. Sophie asks Clemi – bookstore events coordinator, aspiring novelist, and daughter of a famed literary agent – to cancel Raymond’s his appearance, too. But that might not work, because Clemi suspects Raymond might be her biological father, and she wants to know for sure. This is a story narrated by two different women, punctuated by political turmoil, a celestial event, and a perpetually broken vacuum cleaner.