Hummingbirds: A Novel

by Joshua Gaylord

Overview

"Those of us who love Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie will now have to make room next to it on our shelves for Joshua Gaylord's winning debut." —Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England

"Hummingbirds positively glistens with erudition and insight. Whether writing about prep school girls or the adult men who walk among them, Gaylord's stunning writing elevates his subject matter with equal parts humanity and elegance." —Jonathan Tropper, author of This Is Where I Leave You

In the tradition of Francine Prose's Blue Angel, Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep, and Alan Bennett's The History Boys, Joshua Gaylord's Hummingbirds reveals the intertwining—and darkly surprising—relationships between secretive students and teachers at an all-girls prep school in New York City.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061769023
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/05/2010
Series:	P.S. Series
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Joshua Gaylord has taught at an Upper East Side prep school for the past ten years. He also teaches literature and cultural studies as an adjunct professor at the New School. He lives in New York.

What People are Saying About This

Jonathan Tropper

“Hummingbirds positively glistens with erudition and insight. Whether writing about prep school girls or the adult men who walk among them, Gaylord’s stunning writing elevates his subject matter with equal parts humanity and elegance.”

Brock Clarke

“HUMMINGBIRDS is a sly, charming novel about the students at a Manhattan girls’ school and the adults who sometimes remember to teach them. Joshua Gaylord’s winning debut.”

Ed Park

“Keenly plotted and psychologically acute, this novel thrums with deceptions great and small—what we don’t tell each other, and what we won’t admit to ourselves.”

Editorial Reviews

Provocative and well written.” — People StyleWatch

“[A] winning debut . . . Lush language . . . A very grown-up novel about adolescence and the folly of adults, by an impressive new voice in American fiction.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Gaylord has delivered a story that’s ripe with acute and wry observations on men and women, competition, sexuality, and secrets.” — Library Journal

“The complicated web of loyalties, attraction, competition and camaraderie [in HUMMINGBIRDS] provides much tension as things play out—but not in an expected way. . . . Gaylord’s tale of overeducated men and the teenage students who exhibit the finesse and understanding their teachers lack hits all the right notes.” — Publishers Weekly

“HUMMINGBIRDS is a sly, charming novel about the students at a Manhattan girls’ school and the adults who sometimes remember to teach them. Joshua Gaylord’s winning debut.” — Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England

“Hummingbirds positively glistens with erudition and insight. Whether writing about prep school girls or the adult men who walk among them, Gaylord’s stunning writing elevates his subject matter with equal parts humanity and elegance.” — Jonathan Tropper, author of This Is Where I Leave You

“Keenly plotted and psychologically acute, this novel thrums with deceptions great and small— what we don’t tell each other, and what we won’t admit to ourselves.” — Ed Park, author of Personal Days

From the Publisher

Provocative and well written.

People StyleWatch

HUMMINGBIRDS is a sly, charming novel about the students at a Manhattan girls’ school and the adults who sometimes remember to teach them. Joshua Gaylord’s winning debut.

Brock Clarke

Hummingbirds positively glistens with erudition and insight. Whether writing about prep school girls or the adult men who walk among them, Gaylord’s stunning writing elevates his subject matter with equal parts humanity and elegance.

Jonathan Tropper

Keenly plotted and psychologically acute, this novel thrums with deceptions great and small— what we don’t tell each other, and what we won’t admit to ourselves.

Ed Park