Greta & Valdin: A Novel
Family stories, Serious and literary fiction
Synthetic audio, Automated braille
Summary
A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR • A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS&’ CHOICE • AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR &“A heartfelt portrait of a complex family.&” —People… • &“Laugh-out-loud-funny.&” —Harper&’s Bazaar • &“Quintessential rom-com meets the delicious family sprawl of a Russian classic.&” —Vanity Fair The &“brilliant&” (Daily Mail, London) bestseller that follows a brother and sister as they navigate queerness, multiracial identity, and family drama, all while flailing their way to love—for fans of Schitt&’s Creek and Sally Rooney&’s Normal People.It&’s been a year since his ex-boyfriend dumped him and moved from Auckland to Buenos Aires, and Valdin is doing fine. He has a good flat with his sister Greta, a good career where his colleagues only occasionally remind him that he is the sole Maaori person in the office, and a good friend who he only sleeps with when he&’s sad. But when work sends him to Argentina and he&’s thrown back in his former lover&’s orbit, Valdin is forced to confront the feelings he&’s been trying to ignore—and the future he wants. Greta is not letting her painfully unrequited crush (or her possibly pointless master&’s thesis, or her pathetic academic salary...) get her down. She would love to focus on the charming fellow grad student she meets at a party and her friendships with a circle of similarly floundering twenty-somethings, but her chaotic family life won&’t stop intruding: her mother is keeping secrets, her nephew is having a gay crisis, and her brother has suddenly flown to South America without a word. Filled with &“kernels of humor and truth&” (Elle) and with an undeniable emotional momentum that builds to an exuberant conclusion, Greta & Valdin careens us through the siblings&’ misadventures and the messy dramas of their sprawling, eccentric Maaori-Russian-Catalonian family. An acclaimed bestseller in New Zealand, Greta & Valdin is fresh, joyful, and alive with the possibility of love in its many mystifying forms.