Elegy for Sam Emerson — Hilary Masters

Set in pre-9/11 Pittsburgh, Elegy for Sam Emerson commemorates a past that will abruptly end as the novel follows the fortunes of Sam Emerson, proprietor of an upscale Mount Washington restaurant with stunning views of the three rivers below. Middle-aged and nostalgic, Sam Emerson ruminates on his unconventional childhood as he faces the prospect of life without his much younger lover, and at the same time, deals with disposing of his mother's ashes and traveling to France to look for his father's unmarked grave.

"In Elegy for Sam Emerson Hilary Masters writes exquisitely about food, gardening, love, Pittsburgh, theatre, race. I love how deeply imagined his characters are and how fully he conveys the layered complexity of life in the second half of the twentieth century. A novel of passionate intelligence and profound humanity."-Margot Livesey

"The world needs more books like this. I read the novel with a sense of wonder at its deep compassion and greatness of spirit. The images, scenes, and dialogue evoke two different worlds simultaneously and show how the past inhabits the present, always. This kind of writing is what writers call 'the real thing.'"-Cynthia Shearer