Notorious Dr. August: His Real Life and Crimes » (1ST PERENN)

Christopher Bram is the author of eight other novels, including Gods and Monsters (originally titled Father of Frankenstein), which was made into an Academy Award-winning film. Bram was a 2001 Guggenheim Fellow and received the 2003 Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. He lives in New York City.

Spanning more than 60 years, from the Civil War to the early 1920s, and moving from the battlefields in the South to New York City, through Paris, London, Constantinople, and Coney Island, The Notorious Dr. August features August Fitzwilliam Boyd, a.k.a. Dr. August, an improvisational pianist who believes his music is sometimes isnpired by the spirit world. He is in love with Isaac Kemp, an ex-slave who sporadically returns his affections and who himself successfully woos Alice Pangborn, a rather prim, white governess. The trio, locked in a strange and often painful love triangle, travel the world—until a horrible tragedy forces them to examine the choices they have made, and shakes up their relationship in ways none of them could have predicted. Rich with historical detail, The Notorious Dr. August is a brilliantly written, emotionally riveting exploration of race, class, spirituality, and sexuality—and of what it truly means to love another.

About the Author:

Christopher Bram is the author of six novels, including Gossip, Hold Tight, Surprising Myself, and Father of Frankenstein, which was made into the movie Gods and Monsters. He lives in New York City.

NY Times Book Review

If only more novelists approached their craft with the imagination and skill of Christopher Bram.