The Confessions of Edward Day

“A triumph. . . . Martin writes with amplitude, precision, grace, and wit. . . . It’s a bravura performance.” —Margaret Atwood

“Suspenseful. . . . A self-contained gem. . . . Lovers of the novel are in for a treat. . . . Valerie Martin is one of the best novelists we have.” —Jane Smiley

“One of the best novels I’ve ever read about the actor’s psyche.” —Laurie Winer, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Martin does a terrific job of capturing what it is to go to auditions, work day and night to keep a roof over your head, share camaraderie and rivalry with peers, all to get that longed-for callback for a really great part.” —The Seattle Times
 
“Briskly chilling. . . . Faultlessly captures the young New York actor’s cloistered world of classes, auditions, day jobs and competitive friendships.” —The Washington Post
 
“Martin tells [The Confessions of Edward Day] with great skill and sympathy.”  —The Wall Street Journal
 
“Like an understated but persuasive musical score. . . . [Martin’s] details are masterful in their spareness.” —The Los Angeles Times
 
“[A] marvel. . . . [Martin’s] gift for suspense is surpassed only by her gifts for dialogue, for description, for variety, for veracity. Not to mention her edge, her wit, her ability to make us smile. . . . Once again, she has drawn us so willingly into her tangled—but always welcoming—web.”  —The Buffalo News
 
“An interesting thriller. . . . You’ll be hooked.”  —The Miami Herald
 
“The Confessions of Edward Day reveals a journeyman storyteller exploring yet another new-to-her world. And aren’t we lucky to have such great seats for the ride?”  —January Magazine
 
“A lively blend of heartbreak and truth-telling, self-deception and hope.” —The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
 
“Martin . . . returns in fine form. . . . A richly entertaining meditation on the price of success.”  —Howard County Times
 
“A chilling end . . . leaves us intrigued.”  —The Salt Lake Tribune
 
“An icy psychosexual thriller. . . . The text knowingly embodies its theme, performance, rehearsing, riffing, interpreting, as an actor interprets a script. And thanks to the deadpan narration the jokes are fun.” —The Times Literary Supplement (UK)
 
“When the climax finally comes, all the pieces fall into place, but not in a predictable way. Like the roles that Edward plays, the final scene is open to interpretation by all the participants, as well as by the reader.” —Yamhill-Valley News-Register
 
“One of Martin’s best novels yet . . . . [She] builds a vivid world full of wisdom for the lives that it illuminates. . . . Full of warmth and intrigue whose pages do all but turn themselves.” —The Australian
 
“Echo[es] an established classic . . . The Picture of Dorian Gray. . . . Valerie Martin is an impressively dexterous writer. . . . Where the book scores is in its stylish, intelligent, unruffled prose.”  —The Telegraph (UK)
 
“Hugely enjoyable.”  —The Independent (UK)