Matthew Acciaccatura of Teaneck, New Jersey, begins his freshman year at NYU in the fall of 1995 with one goal in mind: to become cool. A former high school outcast, used to lumbering the hallways alone in oversize turtlenecks, Matt seems an unlikely candidate for such a transformation. Yet by dint of effort he lands the coveted position of promoter at one of the hottest clubs in New York in the heyday of rave music and Ecstasy. However, as “Magic” Matt rises to fame, portents of tragedy begin to appear, literally in the margins of the story. Footnotes from one Dr. Hans Mannheim, an imprisoned German academic obsessed with Matt’s dangerous trajectory, suggest that Matt is not as in control of his destiny as he might appear….

A gorgeously written archetypal tale of self-discovery (and self-deception) and a love letter to the enduring possibilities of New York City, The Answer Is Always Yes will keep readers guessing until its explosive climax....

"Her poems make vivid what has become dusty, and return us to, as real art does, the brilliance of initial perception."-Jane Hirshfield

"The mythmaking in these poems is fierce and wildly original-this is a thrilling new poetic voice."-Nick Flynn

Monica Ferrell was born in 1975 in India. A former Discovery/The Nation prizewinner and Wallace Stegner Fellow, she currently teaches in the creative writing program at Purchase College. Her first novel, The Answer Is Always Yes, was published by Dial Press in May 2008. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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