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David Ebershoff

Goodreads author profile

born

Los Angeles, CA, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.ebershoff.com

genre

Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers

member since

April 2009

About this author

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David Ebershoff is the author of three bestselling novels and a short story collection. His debut, THE DANISH GIRL, won the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Lambda Literary Award, and an American Library Association Book Award. It is being adapted into a feature film with Nicole Kidman. His second novel, PASADENA, was named a Wall Street Journal Editor’s Pick, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and became a New York Times bestseller. His short story collection, THE ROSE CITY, won the Ferro-Grumley Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

His third novel, THE 19TH WIFE, was an immediate international bestseller, landing on the New York Times bestseller list and reaching #1 in...more David Ebershoff is the author of three bestselling novels and a short story collection. His debut, THE DANISH GIRL, won the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Lambda Literary Award, and an American Library Association Book Award. It is being adapted into a feature film with Nicole Kidman. His second novel, PASADENA, was named a Wall Street Journal Editor’s Pick, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and became a New York Times bestseller. His short story collection, THE ROSE CITY, won the Ferro-Grumley Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

His third novel, THE 19TH WIFE, was an immediate international bestseller, landing on the New York Times bestseller list and reaching #1 in Britain. The book was a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award, the Utah Book Award, and the Galaxy British Book Award. It has half a million copies in print in English alone.

The novel has been described as "Wonderfully lyrical. . . . it does that thing all good novels do: It entertains us." – The Los Angeles Times.

"Coming on the heels of the news-making raid on the FLDS polygamist sect in Texas, this lyrical yet fact-packed epic about the Mormon practice of plural marriage is both timely and transporting. Ebershoff intertwines a modern-day murder mystery with a sweeping historical saga; his title refers to the real-life wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, who fled her husband and ditched her faith in 1873. Based on Ann Eliza's groundbreaking 1875 memoir, Wife No. 19, and her subsequent campaign to make polygamy illegal, Ebershoff re-creates her struggles as a "sister wife," bringing to life the jealousies, insecurities and financial hardships of being one of a string of spouses -- all of whom Brigham claimed to marry in honor of God. Equally compelling is the book's gritty contemporary story of another 19th wife -- from a renegade cult in the remote desert -- accused of killing her husband after he tells her he will no longer sleep with her. This wife is ultimately redeemed by her gay son, whom she abandoned (under orders from the sect's 'Prophet') when he was 14. Ebershoff's exhaustive research and deft prose combine to make his third novel a literary tour de force."

"A compelling portrait of the beginnings and ends of Mormon polygamy, and a marvelous examination of its effects on women (the obvious sufferers) and men (also brutalized, the author shows). The 19th Wife is an exploration of how and whether community is possible after a loss of belief." —Newsday

Since 1996, Ebershoff has been on staff at Random House. For many years he was the publishing director of Random House's classics imprint, the Modern Library - www.modernlibrary.com. He is currently an editor-at-large for Random House, editing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction writers including David Mitchell, Charles Bock, Billy Collins, Gary Shteyngart, Diane Keaton, Shirin Ebadi, Azadeh Moaveni, Ronald C. White, Jr., and Katha Pollitt.

Ebershoff has taught creative writing at New York University and Princeton and currently teaches in the MFA program at Columbia University.

Originally from Pasadena, California, Ebershoff is a graduate of the Polytechnic School, Brown University, and the University of Chicago. He lives in New York City.(less)

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David Ebershoff's Books

Average rating: 3.60 · 29,875 ratings · 4,666 reviews · 7 distinct works · Similar authors

	The 19th Wife 3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 avg rating — 28,755 ratings — published 2008 — 32 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Danish Girl 3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 avg rating — 764 ratings — published 2000 — 19 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pasadena 3.4 of 5 stars 3.40 avg rating — 301 ratings — published 2002 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Rose City: Stories 3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 avg rating — 42 ratings — published 2002 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Men on Men 6: Best New Gay Fiction by David Bergman (Editor), Jim Grimsley (Contributor), Bruce Benderson (Contributor) 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1996	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lit Riffs by Matthew Miele (Editor), Heidi Julavitz, Tanker Dane (Contributor) 3.32 of 5 stars 3.32 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 2004 — 8 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Literary Pasadena: The Fiction Edition by Patricia O'Sullivan (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Michelle Huneven (Introduction), Jervey Tervalon (Contributor) 4.5 of 5 stars 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Literary Pasadena: The Fiction Edition by Patricia O'Sullivan (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Jervey Tervalon (Contributor), Michelle Huneven (Introduction) 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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David Ebershoff is now friends with Book Preview Review
May 06, 2013 07:20pm
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Cartwheel: A Novel by Jennifer Dubois	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 06, 2013 06:18am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 27, 2013 03:45am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Answered Prayers - The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2013 06:28am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Daisy Miller by Henry James	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2013 06:27am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Billy Budd and Other Stories by Herman Melville	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2013 06:26am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Ethan Frome & Summer by Edith Wharton	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2013 06:24am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars The Turn of the Screw & In the Cage by Henry James	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2013 06:24am
David Ebershoff rated a book 5 of 5 stars Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 15, 2013 06:24am

More of David's books…

Quotes by David Ebershoff

“Last year when my grandma fell and broke her hip she couldn't paint her toenails anymore. So my grandpa started doing it for her, even after he fell and broke his hip, too. For me, that's love.”
― David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife

14 people liked it

“I know someone loves me from how they say my name. Like with my mom and dad, when they say "Benjamin" it's like my name is safe in their mouth.”
― David Ebershoff

12 people liked it

“I trust you have seen the ocean. If you have, then you have witnessed the divine. How barren the ground is in comparison! If I could count the hours I have spent staring out at it! And yet those hours never feel lost. I cannot imagine how else I could refill them were I given a second chance.”
― David Ebershoff, The 19th Wife

5 people liked it

See all David Ebershoff's quotes »

Polls

Which book would you like to read for our January 1 - February 1 History group read?

The 19th Wife A Novel by David Ebershoff

11 votes, 45.8%

Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow

7 votes, 29.2%

Daughter of Fortune A Novel by Isabel Allende

6 votes, 25.0%

24 total votes

1 comment

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European Royalty: Jan 1 - Feb 1: The 19th Wife	1	10	Dec 01, 2009 08:28am
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Quotes David Likes

“A man will reveal his true self, or so it seems, on the tennis court.”
― Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water

2 people liked it

“One can become so sentimental about a person's absence, but it's impossible to be consistently sentimental in his presence - when you're confronted with the quotidian selfishness and silence that, I'm given to understand, comprise most of a life. But we were just so new.”
― Jennifer Dubois, A Partial History of Lost Causes

tags: relationships

7 people liked it

“But all that talk. All those confidences. He shuddered to think about it. At the time, though, he didn't know any better, and he was filled the gleeful lurching and teeth-chattering panic of early and undiagnosed love.”
― Jennifer Dubois, A Partial History of Lost Causes

tags: love

3 people liked it

“I will admit it sometimes felt strange to me to make the confession to someone and later catch them laughing, or flirting, or eating a sandwich, instead of tearing at the injustice of it all or sitting quietly at the center of a grand and monstrous grief. The disaster of my life might be only the worst thing another person heard that afternoon; they might have forgotten by dinnertime; they might have been more heartbroken by watching certain movies.”
― Jennifer Dubois, A Partial History of Lost Causes

tags: illness

4 people liked it