“You’re in Greenwich Village, kid,” young Daniel Summerhill is told early in this novel of coming-of-age in turbulent times. “Go native. Become an artist. A painter, say, or a musician, or a writer.” Epstein conjures youthful innocence, a nation’s disillusionment, and the raucous creative spirit of the Village in the 1970s as Daniel quits college with a dream of becoming a writer. Like most at that age, Daniel is confused about what he really wants and how to go about it. As he strives to avoid the draft and worries about confronting his parents, he immerses himself in the bohemian culture of the Village, that once-affordable American Left Bank for those who dream boldly. Daniel and readers encounter poets, activists, folkies, beats, and only-in-New-York cranks—Ginsberg and Corso turn up, while Woodstock’s outsider artist Clarence Schmidt plays a major role.

Daniel absorbs their stories on the path to writing his own. Ultimately, in a feverish burst of inspiration, he writes a novel that he hopes will “provide for readers a home not offered by the world.” Novels about writing, of course, can be a tough sell for readers, asking them to care about the frustrations and technical considerations of authorship. As the title suggests, much of the narrative concerns Daniel finding his way toward something—in this case, what it means to write, what he can write, how to derive inspiration from people around him, and more—questions to which he brings a young person’s romanticism and idealism.

For all the specificity of milieu, a certain evergreen quality prevails: the content of Daniel’s novel is left a mystery, putting the emphasis on experiences and worries common to any creative person discovering a voice and a process. Epstein’s own novel comes to its fullest life, though, when it leaves Daniel’s head for interactions with the Village’s motley bohos and dreamers, plus excursions upstate and to the Berkshires. They do not disappoint. Lovers of 70s Village life and artistic self-discovery will find much here that resonates.

Takeaway: Evocative novel of coming-of-age as a writer in the Greenwich Village of the 1970s

Comparable Titles: William Collins’s , Ed Field and Neil Derrick’s The Villagers.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-