Genre: Entertainment. Nonfiction (Adult)
New York is a walker’s city. You can walk for hours. The streets slip by. There is so much to look at, so much to take in. I walk a lot. Especially when I am not writing…
Lily Brett’s love affair with New York began as an outsider in her late teens when she was posted on assignment there as a young Australian rock journalist. In her early forties she returned, together with her soul mate and three children, to start a new life, and for the last twenty-five years she has called New York home.
This witty, candid and moving collection of short pieces celebrates the city that’s now part of her heartbeat. A compulsive walker, Brett takes us to her favourite places and introduces us to the characters of the city that has nurtured, perplexed and inspired her. She brings to life the delights of Chinatown, the majesty of Grand Central Station, the lure of spandex and sequins in the Garment District, and the peculiarity of canine couture. And she muses on the miracle of love in the Lodz ghetto, the possibility of loneliness amidst skyscrapers, and the joy and redemption in a child’s curiosity.
Full of wisdom, humour and grace, Only in New York is a human portrait of a city much loved – and of a woman in step with herself.
This witty, clever book was a change of pace for me. It was a delightful read. I enjoyed reading about the insight into one woman’s relationship with a city she calls home.
Her short, sharp ‘scenes’ transport you throughout New York and make you want to
write a list of ‘places that the locals go’ next time you visit. From places she loves to walk, restaurants she loves to frequent, to a brief encounters with someone she is ‘sure she knows’, Lily Brett creates refreshing and fun storylines that lends itself to remind us that human contact has been lost in our world of technology, but really is just a phone call away. There is no ‘beginning’ and there is no ‘end’, but there is a wonderful amount of stories told ‘in between’.
Penguin Books Australia – Only In New York Book Link
E-book Purchasing Link
Amazon Buy Link
About the Author:
Lily Brett was born in Germany and came to Melbourne with her parents in 1948. She is one of Australia’s most prolific and successful authors. She has published six works of fiction, nine books of poetry, and three essay collections to much critical acclaim in Australia and around the world. Lily Brett is married to the Australian painter David Rankin. They have three children and live in New York.
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