A Plague of Mercies Adam Pelzman

We are thrilled to host Adam Pelzman for a reading of his newest work, A Plague of Mercies.

“Brilliantly observant poetry that captures a dark moment in our recent history.” 

—KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

A lethal plague sweeps the globe. Millions have died. Survivors are confined to their homes.

Gabriel passes his time in a small New York apartment on the city’s Upper West Side. During the plodding solitude of the lockdown, he observes several strangers in their nearby apartments. As he watches them struggle to survive a world at risk of extinction, he wonders about their lives—where they’re from, what they value, how they’re coping with a deadly contagion. All alone, he develops a vague yet important connection to these people, an affection for those who are struggling to survive isolation, fear and looming death.

Told in powerful, spellbinding free verse, Gabriel's observations grow deeper and more elaborate as the endless days pass. But when he and a woman from across the street begin to watch each other from afar, his imagination begins to collide with the bleak reality of the times.

Bio

Adam Pelzman was born in Seattle, raised in northern New Jersey, and has spent most of his life in New York City. He studied Russian literature at the University of Pennsylvania and went to law school at UCLA. His first novel, Troika, was published by Penguin and later republished by Jackson Heights Press as A Cuban Russian American Love Story. He is also the author of The Papaya King (which Kirkus Reviews described as "entrancing" and "deeply memorable") and The Boy and the Lake (an historical novel set in New Jersey during the 1960s). His most recent novel is A Plague of Mercies.