Luna, Phoenix, Queen: 'A miracle of a book' Katie Kitamura
Julie Orringer
Oct 2026 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by MacLeod Andrews, Stina Nielsen, Jennifer Kim, Nick Trengove, Phoebe Strole, and Dallis Seeker
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11 hr 15 min
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A spellbinding tour de force from the author of The Invisible Bridge - a novel about varieties of infidelity, the provenance of a literary masterpiece, and the power of storytelling to shape identity and destiny
'Thrilling. . . Luna, Phoenix, Queen brilliantly emphasizes the agony of isolation in its various forms, and the relief that can only come in telling a story for oneself.' Meg Wolitzer, New York Times
'A miracle of a book' Katie Kitamura, author of Audition
‘Luna, Phoenix, Queen breaks all the rules and makes its own. Gripping, heartbreaking, redemptive and a joy to read, Orringer has given readers a great gift. It will knock your socks off.’ Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less
‘Luna, Phoenix, Queen reimagined what I thought a novel could do. My favorite kind of novel.’ Caro Claire Burke, author of Yesteryear
‘Heart-stoppingly good’ Kirkus Reviews starred review
Dava Pennington is unhappy in her marriage, and secretly in love with a female colleague; spurred by their complicated liaison, she spends her nights working on a novel inspired by the affair. But the writing becomes increasingly difficult as her memory begins to fail; tests reveal that she’s suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Alone in their house one night, her husband Barr discovers Dava’s hidden manuscript, which he reads with envy, and then with anger, as he gradually realizes that the novel is autobiographical. Feeling unable to confront her because of her illness, instead he rewrites her novel and publishes it as his own, to wide acclaim. But persistent feelings of guilt lead him in time to confess his theft to an unlikely party, who leads others to the truth…
Luna, Phoenix, Queen brilliantly illuminates the power of storytelling and explores the terror of losing the ability to make sense of our world. It is a cry of rage against vulnerability and helplessness; an acknowledgment of the mysteries beneath the familiar surface of our world; and ultimately, if unexpectedly, a radical testament to love in its many forms.
‘No one writes a love story like Julie Orringer. In this intensely personal novel, illness cracks a family open to reveal, at its secret heart, a passionate affair, an edge-of-your-seat mystery, and one of the most memorable dogs in all of literature.’ Nell Freudenberger, Author of The Newlyweds
'Thrilling. . . Luna, Phoenix, Queen brilliantly emphasizes the agony of isolation in its various forms, and the relief that can only come in telling a story for oneself.' Meg Wolitzer, New York Times
'A miracle of a book' Katie Kitamura, author of Audition
‘Luna, Phoenix, Queen breaks all the rules and makes its own. Gripping, heartbreaking, redemptive and a joy to read, Orringer has given readers a great gift. It will knock your socks off.’ Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less
‘Luna, Phoenix, Queen reimagined what I thought a novel could do. My favorite kind of novel.’ Caro Claire Burke, author of Yesteryear
‘Heart-stoppingly good’ Kirkus Reviews starred review
Dava Pennington is unhappy in her marriage, and secretly in love with a female colleague; spurred by their complicated liaison, she spends her nights working on a novel inspired by the affair. But the writing becomes increasingly difficult as her memory begins to fail; tests reveal that she’s suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Alone in their house one night, her husband Barr discovers Dava’s hidden manuscript, which he reads with envy, and then with anger, as he gradually realizes that the novel is autobiographical. Feeling unable to confront her because of her illness, instead he rewrites her novel and publishes it as his own, to wide acclaim. But persistent feelings of guilt lead him in time to confess his theft to an unlikely party, who leads others to the truth…
Luna, Phoenix, Queen brilliantly illuminates the power of storytelling and explores the terror of losing the ability to make sense of our world. It is a cry of rage against vulnerability and helplessness; an acknowledgment of the mysteries beneath the familiar surface of our world; and ultimately, if unexpectedly, a radical testament to love in its many forms.
‘No one writes a love story like Julie Orringer. In this intensely personal novel, illness cracks a family open to reveal, at its secret heart, a passionate affair, an edge-of-your-seat mystery, and one of the most memorable dogs in all of literature.’ Nell Freudenberger, Author of The Newlyweds
A spellbinding tour de force from the author of The Invisible Bridge - a novel about varieties of infidelity, the provenance of a literary masterpiece, and the power of storytelling to shape identity and destiny
'Thrilling. . . Luna, Phoenix, Queen brilliantly emphasizes the agony of isolation i...
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About the author
Julie Orringer is the author of three award-winning books: How to Breathe Underwater, The Invisible Bridge, and The Flight Portfolio, which was the basis for the 2023 Netflix series Transatlantic. She is the winner of the Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for Fiction and the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and MacDowell. She teaches at New York University and Stanford University, and lives in Brooklyn.
Julie Orringer is the author of three award-winning books: How to Breathe Underwater, The Invisible Bridge, and The Flight Portfolio, which was the basis for the 2023 Netflix series Transatlantic. She is the winner of the Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for Fiction and the recipient of fellowships ...
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