I Make Envy on Your Disco

A Novel

Winner of the Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction

"A funny and moving debut."—Charles Arrowsmith, The Washington Post

“A love letter to Berlin, to travel, and to saying yes to life.”—Alan Cumming

It’s the new millennium and the anxiety of midlife is creeping up on Sam Singer, a thirty-seven-year-old art advisor. Fed up with his partner and his life in New York, Sam flies to Berlin to attend a gallery opening. There he finds a once-divided city facing an identity crisis of its own. In Berlin the past is everywhere: the graffiti-stained streets, the candlelit cafés and techno clubs, the astonishing mash-up of architecture, monuments, and memorials.

A trip that begins in isolation evolves into one of deep connection and possibility. In an intensely concentrated series of days, Sam finds himself awash in the city, stretched in limbo between his own past and future—in nightclubs with Jeremy, a lonely wannabe DJ; navigating a flirtation with Kaspar, an East Berlin artist he meets at a café; and engaged in a budding relationship with Magda, the enigmatic and icy manager of Sam’s hotel, whom Sam finds himself drawn to and determined to thaw. I Make Envy on Your Disco is at once a tribute to Berlin, a novel of longing and connection, and a coming-of-middle-age story about confronting the person you were and becoming the person you want to be.

Exceptional

Exceptional cover-to-cover! Exceptional story! Exceptional characters! Exceptionally well written! I didn't want it to end. I hope the author is working on a sequel!

Like a holiday you wish will never end!

Absolutely enjoyed every moment of this story. Laughed out loud and couldn’t stop listening! The brilliant narration brings the characters to life! Highly recommend!

A true standout

So often I feel like I’m reading the same story over and over but told in different ways. This book did not fit a mold I knew. It was real and fresh and I cared deeply about the characters — including Berlin.