US/EN
The Question Authority
Description
Nora Buchbinder--formerly rich and now broke--would be the last woman in Brooklyn to claim #MeToo, but when a work assignment reunites her with her childhood best friend, Beth, she finds herself in a hall of mirrors. Was their eighth grade teacher Beth's lover or her rapist? Where were the grown-ups? What should justice look like, after so much time has passed? And what can Nora do, now?
Nora's memories, and Beth's, and those of their classmates, their former teacher, and members of his family, bring to light some of the ways we absorb and manage unbearable behavior. From denial to reinvention, self-pity to self-righteousness, endless questioning to intransigent certainty, readers will recognize the ripples sent into the lives of others by one broken man.
Product Details
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About the Author
Rachel Cline, author of the novels What to Keep and My Liar, has written for the New York Times, New York, More, SELF, and Tin House magazines, and is a produced screen and television writer. For five years, she was a screenwriting instructor at the University of Southern California and has taught fiction writing at New York University, Eugene Lang College, and Sarah Lawrence College. She has been a resident at Yaddo, a fellow at Sewanee, and a Girls Write Now mentor. She lives in Brooklyn Heights, a few blocks from where she grew up.
Reviews
The Question Authority was featured in a list of upcoming thriller novels dealing with the topic of the #MeToo movement from Publishers Weekly
Recommended as an "absorbing, nuanced page-turner" perfect for summer reading.
--Kenyon Review
"The Scourge of Himpathy" Los Angeles Review of Books Article
Rachel Cline creates a playlist for her novel The Question Authority through Largehearted Boy's Book Notes Series.
Book recommendations by Rachel Cline on Literary Hub
Rachel Cline's article on the Woolfer
Review by Jordana Landsman of Read Like A Mother
LA Review of Books Interview with Lucinda Rosenfield and Rachel Cline
Brooklyn Heights Author Rachel Cline Reads From New Novel
Nora is a beautifully crafted character. Late in the book, she comments on her own "prickliness," and the word is perfect. Nora is sharp and hard to get close to, and now, in her 50s, she's trying to understand how much of that is a reaction to Mr. Rasmussen--his behavior toward Nora but also what she knows about him and Beth and a handful of other girls.
--Kirkus Reviews
A new novel will reignite your #MeToo outrage.
--The Washington Post
Rachel Cline's The Question Authority does just that, with heart-stinging clarity. So in touch with the present moment that it might have been written last week, so skillful that it couldn't have been, this prescient novel deserves your attention.
--Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl from the Left
A gripping, provocative story about bright young girls in thrall to a charismatic teacher, and his haunting impact on their adult lives. Set in two Brooklyns, that of the 1970s and of 2009, the novel adds depth and nuance to our ongoing conversation about #MeToo revelations. Cline's characters are drawn with delightful wit and a keen eye, as well as a striking and profound tenderness for youthful innocence and longing. I devoured this novel, and it has stayed with me long after I turned the last page.
--Kate Manning, author of My Notorious Life
Recommended as an "absorbing, nuanced page-turner" perfect for summer reading.
--Kenyon Review
Throughout The Question Authority, Cline compels us to face the most pressing questions that MeToo raised: how is inequality truly seen, what does justice look like, what good does questioning authority do when the authority is so skilled at dodging questions?
--Matt Caprioli of Star-revue.com
