Christmas in Austin

by Benjamin Markovits

Overview

This luminous family saga from one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists is a must for fans of Anne Tyler and Jonathan Franzen.

When the four Essinger children gather in Austin for Christmas, they all bring their news. Nathan is hoping to become a Federal judge. Susie’s husband has taken a job in England. Jean has asked her boyfriend and boss to meet her family. Paul has broken up with Dana, mother of their son Cal. But their parents have plans, too, and invite Dana to stay, hoping to bring the couple back together. As the week unfolds, the Essingers all face conflicts of loyalty and tensions between old families and new.

Rich, intimate, and deeply perceptive, Benjamin Markovits' Christmas in Austin beautifully explores the deep-rooted division between the world we grow up in, and the life we make for ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780571365968
Publisher:	Faber and Faber
Publication date:	12/08/2020
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x (d)

About the Author

Benjamin Markovits grew up in Texas, London, and Berlin. One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists and the winner of the James Tait Black Award, he is the author of eight novels. He has published essays, stories, poetry, and reviews on subjects ranging from the Romantics to American sports in The Guardian, Granta, The Paris Review, and The New York Times, among other publications. He lives in London and teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR A WEEKEND IN NEW YORK :

“In tender, compassionate prose and a deftly compressed time-scheme, Markovits glints through desire, ennui, misunderstanding, and love, illuminating his family so they collectively glow like a human panorama.”

―Jonathan Lethem


"There’s not a lot of high drama in the novel; the characters’ cool and sometimes startling insights into their own behavior are pleasure enough.”

—The New York Times Book Review


"Markovits is adept at multilayered dialogue, and [the family’s] interplay sparkles."

—amNewYork


"Beneath the surface particularities of their lives, there's a universality to this portrait that will bring at least a rueful nod of recognition to any reader."

—Shelf Awareness


"Markovits offers ... well-crafted scenes that explore the chaos and affection, seams and separateness of large family gatherings—the disjointed conversations are especially fine. ."

—Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR A WEEKEND IN NEW YORK

"In tender, compassionate prose and a deftly compressed time-scheme, Markovits glints through desire, ennui, misunderstanding, and love, illuminating one family's life so that it glows collectively like a human panorama." — Jonathan Lethem

"A book to be savoured .... for its granular evocation of family life. Hugely enjoyable." — Observer

From the Publisher

Christmas in Austin is a profoundly domestic novel. The plot is desultory; what occurs is talk, plus copious inner musings about family relationships…Markovits delivers an engrossing inquiry into the nature of familiarity: family stories and code words, special places in the old neighborhood, cherished holiday rituals. Though the Essinger siblings are anything but quiet, a quiet sadness pervades this account of holiday homecoming, and of their entry into early middle age…With attentive and intelligent sympathy, Markovits digs beneath Tolstoy's dictum about happy families to raise the question, What is family happiness? Are the Essingers doing more or less O.K.? Or are they kind of a mess? A reader's judgment may wobble in sync with the siblings' own.

The New York Times Book Review - Rand Richards Cooper

10/01/2019

Liesel and Bill Essinger are looking forward to welcoming their four grown children, along with their significant others and their children, home for Christmas. But everyday life doesn't stop because there's a holiday coming, and there are challenges facing each of the couples, including a serious illness. Will there be peace on Earth for any family member this year? VERDICT Markovits's second title featuring the Essinger family will find an audience with readers looking for a holiday story that's light on the Christmas merrymaking and more focused on the complex dynamics at work in relationships among adult siblings, their spouses and children, and their aging parents.

Library Journal

2019-08-19
A week of holiday togetherness has its ups and downs for three generations of a large, accomplished family.

In a follow-up to A Weekend in New York (2018), Markovits brings back the Essinger family, which convened in the first book to watch Paul, one of four siblings, compete in the U.S. Open. In this installment, parents Liesel and Bill host the annual Christmas celebration at the family home in Austin, Texas. All are returning to the homestead from points on the East Coast and beyond except for Paul, who has retired from tennis, split up with his girlfriend, Dana, and moved back to the area. With nothing but money in the bank and time on his hands, he's thrown himself into building a compound down the road from Austin in rural Wimberley (who will live in this place with him is sadly unclear) and also into daily fitness training so he can keep up with Lance Armstrong, whom he bikes with on Sundays. But he and Dana have a young son, and his mother, Liesel, is unhappy about the split. She invites Dana to attend the weeklong gathering despite the fact, as she herself points out in the first sentence of the book, "There are too many of us.…Fifteen, including Bill and me." The omniscient narrator is deep inside the heads of 14 of them—the nursing baby gets a pass—convincingly and insightfully tracking the micromovements of emotions, relationships, and conversations. The Austin setting is remarkably granular as well, including myriad geographic details and street names, restaurant and Christmas tree vendor recommendations, capturing the ethos of the town with confident panache. "Nathan, when he saw her, was reminded of how much he liked Austin, that it could produce such people—independent, dignified, unobtrusive, free-thinking….Around election time she always stuck a simple blue-and-white Lloyd Doggett US Congress sign in her front yard."

For readers who value detailed observation of human nature and those who'd like to visit Austin without springing for plane fare.

Kirkus Reviews