Episode 284 — Brittani Sonnenberg

Brittani Sonnenberg is the guest. Her debut novel, Home Leave, is now available from Grand Central Publishing. Karen Russell says "It's hard to believe that this astonishing novel is Brittani Sonnenberg's first--she writes about family with wisdom, humor, and native daring. Here is Persephone's journey, undertaken by an entire family, the Kriegsteins, who ricochet through time zones, moving from Berlin to Singapore to Wisconsin to Shanghai to Atlanta, together and alone. Sonnenberg's prose is so vital and so enchanting that you will read this book in the dilated state of a world-traveler, with all of your senses wide open. Her family members are so well-drawn and complex that you'll close this book certain they exist." And Wim Wenders calls it "A captivating tour de force that follows a nomadic family across generations and continents." Monologue topics: mail, multilingualism, cultural superiority, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Iran, Egypt.

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