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Description
"This is a wonderful, forever book." —George Booth, cartoonist for The New Yorker
After the Fall introduces us to a brilliantly eccentric family from New York’s Upper East Side. Pops, a self-made millionaire, is a mad inventor who gleans his inspiration from popovers and Raquel Welsh. Mother is a fabulously dressed but mercurial socialite from Buenos Aires whose weapon of choice is a croquet mallet. Young Alan, our earnest and studious narrator, and his drama-queen little sister, Alex, love their parents but must turn to their good-natured housekeeper and cook for a better sense of reality.
One fateful day, Alan returns home to find that the family has gone bust, not even a penny to be found. The next morning, to the children’s surprise, the family wakes up in Central Park along with the entire contents of their penthouse arranged just as before—art, furniture, pugs, and all. Aided by their two loyal housekeepers and fed by the maitre d’ from their favorite restaurant, the family makes Central Park into a comfortable and creative home.
But soon the strains of life—and the weather, which is getting chilly—threaten to tear apart the parents’ marriage. As the holiday season approaches, the children rise to the challenge of bringing their family back together.
With more than two hundred drawings and featuring kimono-clad squirrels and a visit by a Yeti, this delicious tale is a love letter to family, creativity, and New York.
About the Author
Victoria Roberts has been a contracted cartoonist for The New Yorker since 1988. Her illustrations have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time. She lives in New York City.
Praise For…
A total delight.
— Roz Chast, author of Can We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
After the Fall is one of a kind. With her distinctive, intelligent drawings and tongue-in-cheek humor, legendary cartoonist Victoria Roberts has crafted a delightfully quirky coming-of-age fantasy for adults. I couldn’t put it down.
— Patricia Bosworth, author of Diane Arbus: A Biography
Victoria Roberts is wonderful! And so is her madcap journey through the ups and downs of today’s New York. After the Fall is written and illustrated with all the wit and irrepressible glee that makes her New Yorker cartoons such a treat.
— Kevin Baker, author of Strivers Row, Dreamland, and Paradise Alley
Mad, brilliant, stunning and hilarious…I simply adore it!
— Lisa Lutz, author of The Swallows
[A] loopy, charming fantasy…Part graphic novel, part extended New Yorker cartoon, After the Fall is more surreal than social realism…With its echoes of Salinger’s Glass family, as well as any in a Wes Anderson film, Alan’s eccentric clan is memorably strange and winning.
— Kate Tuttle - Boston Globe
[A] richly illustrated treat.
— Kirkus Reviews
A wonderful children’s story for adults, with all the fanciful Manhattan-centric aspects that entails.
— Publishers Weekly