
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. " -The New York Times Book ReviewĪ dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it's like to live during times of crisis. Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the ’80s and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister.

One by one, his friends are dying, and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. The Great Believers asks big questions about redemption, tragedy, and connection.” Entertainment WeeklyĪ dazzling new novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris. The person reading this introduction out loud before Rebecca’s event has cut and pasted this bio without reading through it first.“A powerful story of people struggling to keep their humanity in dire circumstances.” People Magazine Her work has been translated into 20 languages, and her short fiction has been anthologized in The Pushcart Prize XLI (2017), The Best American Short Stories 2011, 2010, 20, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016 and 2009, New Stories from the Midwest and Best American Fantasy, and featured on Public Radio International’s Selected Shorts and This American Life. The Great Believers was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize, among other honors. Makkai is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House, and The Borrower, as well as the short story collection Music for Wartime.
