Kissing in Manhattan: Stories

Hilarious, sexy, and deeply tender,Kissing in Manhattanwas one of the most celebrated debuts in recent years. Acclaimed author David Schicklers collection of linked stories follows a troupe of love-hungry urbanites through a charmed metropolis and into the Preemption--a mythic Manhattan apartment building. The Preemption sets the stage for a romantic fantasy as exuberant, dark, and dazzling as the city it occupies. Behind closed doors, the paths of an improbable cast of tenants--a seductive perfume heiress; a crabby, misunderstood actor; a preternaturally sharp-sighted priest--tangle and cross, while a perilous love triangle builds around three characters: James Branch, a shy young accountant with an unusual love for the Preemptions antique elevator, and a strange destiny... Patrick Rigg, a Wall Street lothario who soothes his pain by seducing beautiful women, carrying a gun, and attending the nightly sermons of a foreboding priest... Rally McWilliams, a fetching, hopeful young writer who roams the city at night, searching for the soulmate she believes in but cant find... Charged with joy and a deadly sense of humor,Kissing in Manhattanis a daring new writers vision of a world where men and women, good and evil, love and sex, meet, battle, and embrace on every street corner. From the Trade Paperback edition.