The Magnificent Esme Wells: A Novel - Hardcover

"This lovely novel, alternately dark and funny, is a powerful examination of both the nature of love and the will to survive."--Ayelet Waldman, author of Love and Treasure

"Esme is street-smart and tough but vulnerable. . . . a memorable character in an unforgettable era."--Louisa Ermelino, Publishers Weekly

"Violent and voluptuous; heartbreaking and profound, The Magnificent Esme Wells is about the losses we endure, and the love we keep betting on, despite the odds. Truly, a showstopper."--Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Cruel Beautiful World

"Adrienne Sharp sure can WRITE! And her newest novel, The Magnificent Esme Wells, does all the best things: it transports, amuses, delights and heartbreaks. What a gem of a book."--Jennifer Gilmore, New York Times bestselling author of Golden Country and The Mothers

"[I]n this lush saga of the new American West... Adrienne Sharp has given us a protagonist to hope for and a powerful new version of the American dream."--Ron Carlson

"Adrienne Sharp brilliantly recreates the tawdry magic of twin dream machines, studio-era Hollywood and early Las Vegas, in this tale of . . . the scrappy, precocious Esme Wells, her go-for-broke parents, and the toll these dreams took on their dreamers."--Janet Fitch, New York Times bestselling author of White Oleander

"How Esme keeps her head, if not her innocence, among these fast-living, fast-dying Vegas and Hollywood stars makes Adrienne Sharp's novel fascinating and rich with secrets she tells with wit and gusto."--Rosellen Brown, author of Before and After

"This glittering noirish tragedy, with its lushly imagined period landscape and subtle feminist trajectory, is both fun to read and sad to think about."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Esme's dramatic and irresistible story sparkles with psychological nuance, sumptuous detail, and vivid historical perceptions as Sharp tracks the high wattage success and violence of tough Jews building movie and casino empires while Hitler bloodied Europe. With real-life figures, mushroom clouds rising from desert test sites, and arresting insights into the power and vulnerability of a daring woman performer, Sharp's novel, like Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach (2017), is propulsive and profound. "--Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

"WWII-era LA and postwar Vegas come vibrantly alive in this detailed, noir portrait of a Paper Moon-style childhood."--People