Herb 'n' Lorna

On the surface Herb and Lorna’s story seems like an American myth: small-town origins Jazz Age romance Depression trials and postwar prosperity. By the 1950s they seem to be a typically sunny American couple. Herb sells Studebakers to the citizens of Babbington a Long Island seaside town and Lorna is his cheerfully coy and clever wife. However after Herb and Lorna have died their grandson Peter Leroy discovers “that my maternal grandparents were involved in—virtually the creators of—the animated erotic jewelry industry.” From that moment the story takes on a tone of mingled awe and delight propelled by a pair of secrets that dovetail at the end into a luscious and bawdy revelation. ““Herb ’n’ Lorna is a historical farce a comedy of four generations of happy errors. This very funny novel — as graceful complicated and exhilarating as a quadrille — is an appreciation of folly. . . . The novel is all about sex and sex in Herb 'n' Lorna means everything in life that is good — craft and art and imagination and hard work and humor and friendship and skill and curiosity and loyalty and love.” Cathleen Schine The New York Times Book Review (front page review) “A beautiful book.” Marc Munroe Dion The Kansas City Star “A wonderful love story.” Lisa Jensen San Francisco Chronicle “Nothing short of brilliant.” Armistead Maupin “A funny sexy story told with consummate skill.” Malcolm Jones Jr. The St. Petersburg Times “It restores the blush of youth.” Barbara Holliday The Detroit Free Press “There aren’t enough adjectives to praise this delightfully generous storyteller. Herb ’n’ Lorna is a classic. Savor it.” Andrei Codrescu National Public Radio “Kraft es en mi opinion un maestro.” Robert Saladrigas La Vanguardia (Barcelona) “One of the undiscovered gems of recent American fiction: a romance of uncommon tenderness and complexity a work of prodigious comic invention—and a damn sexy book.” Jim Ridley Nashville Scene RECOMMENDED BY THE READER’S CATALOGUE A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR