There are plenty of books that we publish at Little, Brown that get us talking amongst ourselves - and sometimes arguing, persuading, theorising and even shouting. Now and again though a book comes along that really sets the cat among the pigeons, and currently the book we’re getting excited about is Day for Night by Frederick Reiken.
Day for Night is about the degrees of separation between us that we ignore at our peril. It’s about secrets and time, and the hold of history on all of us. It’s a truly remarkable work that upsets everything you take for granted.
To whet your appetite a little before the book is officially released on the 1st July, we are posting a fragment of each interlinked story in Day for Night every day on our blog, along with a question to get you thinking. We’ve had our discussion, now we want to know what you think, so send us your comments and reactions via email to info@littlebrown.co.uk or tweet to #dayfornight and we’ll post them on the site. The best ones win a FREE copy of the book.
The first fragment is below and remember to keep checking back as there will be a new one a day for two weeks.
Then on publication day, we’ll put up a list of further questions for those that have read the book in full and let the debate really kick-off...
Fragment 1:
Yesterday’s Day
We walked out farther, to the water’s edge, where less than fifteen feet of river lay between us and the portion of the carousel that was visible. One of the manatees began moving, awkwardly sidling along the submerged roof until it reached water deep enough to swim. The creature’s movements suddenly turned graceful. The water rippled in its wake, seemed to fluoresce. And then it van¬ished, leaving its momentary, perfectly smooth footprint on the surface. I stood there feeling the small weight of the wonder stone. I thought of Jordan and it struck me that this part of his life was going to seem wondrous, and that my Herculean task, if David died, would be to keep this sense of wonder from imploding, turn¬ing inward, and reshaping itself as longing and despair. Or perhaps such a task was futile. Perhaps it wasn’t my task at all. What would my task be then and what was wonder anyway?
In this novel would you expect that thinking about the wonders of nature will help alleviate feelings of grief?
Fragment 2:
Many Colors
He was a young man, American, twenty-one when I first laid eyes on him. He’d come with Moti, and I learned that he was Moti’s roommate at the field school. He seemed so young that I did not imagine that what I felt could possibly have consequence. He was the age of a college junior. I would turn thirty in two months. Still I took one look at his messy blond hair, his round face, his skinny arms, and I thought maybe I had traveled far enough away from who I was that nothing I said or did would matter. I thought that pos¬sibly, if given the opportunity, I might do something truly strange or reckless.
Are these the words of someone who is indeed about to do something strange or reckless?
Fragment 3:
Monster
Do you know of other aliases used by Katherine Clay Goldman?
She has used many. We have confirmed the following: Lynette Templeton, Lynette Elson, Christine Lofgren, Anthea Horwitz, Rose Emmett-Browne, Rosalyn Emmett, Miranda Emmett, Joelle Beals, Jessica Beals, Joanna Glassman, River, Leah Silver, Ursula Wilcox, Brotislawa Szerkowszcyzna, Aviva Luria, Sima Perlman. There are undoubtedly many others.
Are aliases necessarily sinister?
Fragment 4:
The Ancient Forest
My wife, Doris, read this story to me long ago. “Nu, it’s a puz¬zle,” she said, when she had finished. “He solves the puzzle but won’t tell us the solution.”
I agreed, and so at first the question seemed to be that of whether this magician had decided he was not qualified to read the text aloud and ward off evil or if the story’s implication was that the fate of the human race, despite the god’s foresight, would be devastation and ruin. Only later did I realize that the question the story caused me to ponder more than any other was that of what it takes to find a thing that’s hidden, a thing that lurks within whatever it is you’re staring at each day. Perhaps the meaning of the story is that you must look deep rather than far if you want to unlock any of the secrets of the universe, that once unlocked a secret loses its power unless a part of it is withheld. I’ve read the story again perhaps a dozen times in the years since Doris passed away, and in my daydreams I imagine that I have recognized the god’s magical sentence. I imagine that I’ve inferred its secret words from the shapes of clouds or have deduced it from the angles of the branches of an oak tree out my window. And I have wondered what to do. I have imagined speaking the words aloud and equally I have considered the many reasons to stay silent. Needless to say, these represent the fantastic wishes of a man who has read far too much literature and philosophy. More to the point, these are the thoughts of an old man who must wear diapers to bed and who, on certain mornings, can barely move his arms or legs.
What does the old man mean by ‘looking deep rather than far’? Would you agree with him that this way, it’s possible to unlock some of the secrets of the universe?
Fragment 5:
Monster
Do you know of other aliases used by Katherine Clay Goldman?
She has used many. We have confirmed the following: Lynette Templeton, Lynette Elson, Christine Lofgren, Anthea Horwitz, Rose Emmett-Browne, Rosalyn Emmett, Miranda Emmett, Joelle Beals, Jessica Beals, Joanna Glassman, River, Leah Silver, Ursula Wilcox, Brotislawa Szerkowszcyzna, Aviva Luria, Sima Perlman. There are undoubtedly many others.
Are aliases necessarily sinister?
Shadow
Klipe is Yiddish for a husk or shell that has encased a spark of holiness, imprisoning its light and beauty. Klipe can also be a sort of demon or evil spirit. Either way, she was still talking about a shadow. But as my thoughts raced to the metaphysical, through all the Jungian constructs regarding shadows and far beyond, to the ways in which I might finally be of help to her, years later, more than I had while I was spewing off textbook theories, more than I’d helped her during those afternoons on a Brooklyn rooftop long ago, she said, “Oh, Mirela, the man I love is dying.” Then she began to tell me of her boyfriend, a marine biolo¬gist named David, who had been diagnosed with leukemia. She explained that Jordan, the boy I’d met, was David’s son and that she soon would become Jordan’s adoptive mother. She said that David had gone through treatment a year ago, was in remission for almost nine months, but since late August had relapsed and seemed to have reached a point of no return. I took her hand and I listened as she told me about David. She seemed to love this man a lot, more than what I ever would have thought possible.
Do you think Mirela is jealous of the love her friend feels for her dying partner?
- Send us your comments and reactions via email to info@littlebrown.co.uk or tweet to #dayfornight and we’ll post them on the site, or submit your comment in the form below. You could win your own free copy!
We've also prepared a printable reading guide for you to download for your reading group.
Download here.