Iconic editor and lauded author David Ebershoff possesses a comprehensive literary perspective. As a practitioner of fiction, Ebershoff attends to the “micro” elements of prose, showcasing a virtuosity for the nuances of voice evident in each of his three novels–The Danish Girl, Pasadena, and The 19th Wife–and throughout his collection of stories.
An Editor-at-Large at Random House, Ebershoff must also supervise the “macro” components of manuscripts, streamlining a score of today’s most demanding and compelling texts, such as David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story, with professional clear-sightedness.
Combining this twin sensibility–the macro and micro–results in the intricately textured, finely-paced, and deftly-plotted works for which Ebershoff is celebrated. At Love, Ebershoff’s novel-in-progress, promises to be just such an opus.
When heading workshops within Columbia’s MFA program, Ebershoff emphasizes the importance of beginnings. He launches each class by asking students to read the first lines of their submissions aloud, then kicks off critique by evaluating those leading sentences. It’s little surprise, then, that the opening of At Love is gripping. Here’s how it begins…
