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The Nightingales of Troy

The Nightingales of Troy

Advance praise for
The Nightingales of Troy

“In this tour de force collection, Fulton’s lyrical gifts couple with a powerful narrative to bring us the gloriously unexpected Garrahan sisters. This is a book you’ll place alongside Alice Munro and Grace Paley for the rich humor and psychological acuity, the stories of fracture and healing: the smallest things that grace us.”

—Jonis Agee

“What a pleasure to move through Fulton’s rich and layered Troy, to meet the members of this eccentric family and delve into their lives! A lovely and illuminating collection.”

—Andrea Barrett

“Here are ten beautiful, startling, tightly-raveled stories about memory, family, and time. The Nightingales of Troy offers a marvelous example of how connected stories can, sometimes more effectively than a novel, evoke generations, individual histories, and the appallingly short, precious gifts that are our lives.”

—Anthony Doerr

“This gorgeous collection will surprise you on every page. The voice is vivid, the prose perfect, and the characters unforgettable. I loved it.”

—Karen Joy Fowler

“Alice Fulton tells fabulous stories. A book of laughter and tears.”

—Maxine Hong Kingston

“Alice Fulton’s wonderful new collection about four generations of Irish-American women is both comic and tragic, marvelously observed and deeply moving. The Nightingales of Troy should establish her as one of the best writers of fiction working today.”

—Alison Lurie

“With The Nightingales of Troy, Alice Fulton makes her debut as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary fiction. These linked stories read like a novel about a family and community, a window on the past hundred years. At times hilarious, at times heart-breaking, these lives stay in your mind long after you finish the last page.”

—Robert Morgan

“A world is brought blazingly to life in Alice Fulton’s elegant, wise stories. These women are bound by their bodies (glory, solace, and downfall) as well as their time and place. There’s love — and often, revelation. A brilliant collection.”

—Lee Smith

“These 10 linked stories by MacArthur fellow Fulton track the lives of four generations...creating a colorful patchwork of the 20th century. Fulton’s strengths are in elaborate detail and delicate construction....providing the tension at the heart of a book that’s rich with feeling for its characters yet willing to expose their faults.”

—Publisher’s Weekly

“Set in Troy, New York, this debut novel by acclaimed poet Fulton uses ten linked stories to show how the Garrahan women have struggled with triumph and tragedy over a century. A delightful blend of history and storytelling…. ”

—Library Journal

Set in Troy, New York, this linked collection of stories follows a quirky and resilient family throughout the twentieth century. (Forthcoming July 2008.)

In 1908, Mamie Garrahan faces childbirth aided by her arsenic-eating sister-in-law Kitty; a nun who grows opium poppies; and a doctor who prescribes Bayer Heroin. “In the twentieth century, I believe there are no saints left,” Mamie remarks. But her daughters and granddaughter test this notion with far-reaching consequences. Kitty’s arsenic reappears sixty years later in the hands of her distraught niece. A schoolgirl’s passion for The Beatles and Melville—a passion both lonely and funny—shapes her life. Each decade is illuminated by endearingly eccentric characters: an anorexic waitress falls for a wealthy college boy in the jazz age, an exuberant young nurse questions science during the Depression, a homely seamstress designs a scandalous dress in the 1950s.

The Nightingales of Troy, the first fiction collection by an acclaimed American poet, creates a vividly palpable sense of time and place. Fulton’s memorable characters confront the deepest dilemmas with bravery and abiding love.

Alice Fulton’s honors include a MacArthur Fellowship and The Editor’s Prize in Fiction. Her work has been chosen for Best American Short Stories and The Pushcart Prize Anthologies. She lives in Ithaca, New York, and teaches at Cornell.

(read more about Alice Fulton)

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